Irish navy appoints first female Commander

Another woman has made history in the Naval Service, this time by being appointed a Commander.

It comes just a couple of weeks after Sub Lieutenant Tahlia Britton broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first female diver in the navy's history.

Now Roberta O'Brien — who hails from the Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary, and was one of the first two women to enter the navy when it became open to females in 1995 — has done likewise. 

Defence minister Simon Coveney confirmed that she has now been appointed to the rank of commander, the third-highest rank in the navy.

Commander O'Brien has been a trailblazer for women in the Irish military, having to juggle being a mother of three young children with her career and with the added complication that her husband, Peadar Ó Catháin, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army who has often been away from home on peacekeeping missions overseas.

The Galway-born man is currently posted to EU military staff headquarters in Brussels.

Commander O'Brien's grandfather, Paddy McKeown, was a warrant officer in the Naval Service and her uncle, Paddy McKeown Jnr, was an engineer in it as well. 

He was still serving in the navy when she first arrived in Haulbowline with Orla Gallagher — the other woman who entered the service in 1995 and who is now a Lieutenant Commander working in operations headquarters in Dublin.

Between 2008 and 2010, Commander O'Brien became the first female captain of a ship when she was put in charge of the LÉ Aisling. 

She pointed out that since then, seven women have gone on to captain ships. Recently there were three ships captained by women at the one time.

She said that herself and her husband were able to combine their military careers “by juggling and supporting each other”, and she hopes her elevation to the rank of Commander will be a signal to more women that being both a mother and having a good career in the navy is achievable.

“You can balance it,” she said. "It can be difficult at times, but it is doable. If you want something hard enough and work at it, it's doable."

The Naval Service has a higher proportion of women in officer ranks than the army or air corps.

Commander O'Brien says she hopes in the future that even more women will join the service because there are great opportunities in it for them.