Call for female-friendly forces

Fitness tests for women seeking a career in the armed forces need to be made less “intimidating”, Defence Minister Simon Coveney has said.

Mr Coveney said Ireland needed to do more to attract women into the services, as at present the Defence Forces are 94% male.

The minister said the country had to do more to make a defence career more female-friendly because the UN had asked Ireland to work towards providing women-only units that could be used in sensitive post-conflict peacekeeping missions.