THE Department of Defence is to accelerate the intake of women recruits into the Naval Service, still one of the last male preserves of the Defence Forces.
The male only restriction on Naval Service recruits is being dropped early as part of the first phase of a regular intake to reduce the age profile of the Defence Forces.
Four female cadets have already been selected for the Naval Service but have yet to take up their posts.
It had been expected that no female recruits to the "ranks" in the Service would be selected until the female cadets had completed their training and were then able to oversee the training of female recruits.
However, the Minister for Defence, Mr Barrett, yesterday announced the new recruiting policy at the annual conference of the Defence Forces staff association, PDFORRA.
Mr Barrett outlined the Government's plans for reshaping the Defence Forces by reducing their size by 1,500 and restructuring the command system.
He said the proposal did not involve barracks closures and no member of the Defence Forces would face enforced redundancy.
It was estimated that 2,300 service personnel would take "voluntary early retirement" (VER) over the next three years. The intake policy would ensure the lowering of the age profile.
He said: "Inaction will merely compound the problem by allowing the average age to rise. I am, therefore, fully committed to the use of recruitment to redress the age profile and provide a much needed injection of young blood into the Permanent Defence Forces."
He said there had been discussions and agreement with PDVORRA on the issue of restricting the period a recruit can serve in the rank of private to five years before either being promoted or leaving the Defence Forces.
Mr Barrett also denied reports that the Government was considering the privatisation of the Air Corps or Naval Service.
"These reports are simply mischievous rumours and speculation and have no basis in fact" he said.
He also said there would be no redundancies in the Air Corps or Naval Service if either organisation ceased to carry out tasks as a result of a review due to be completed next month.