The minimum age of recruitment to the Permanent Defence Forces will increase from 17 to 18 following an agreement at Cabinet yesterday.
A Government spokesman said that in 2002, Ireland ratified the optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts.
“Essentially what that was designed to do was to prevent people under the age of 18 being involved in direct hostilities, and since then it is the case that the Defence Forces have not deployed people of 17 years of age overseas,” he said.
The Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter yesterday advised his Cabinet colleagues of his intention to increase the minimum age.
The Government spokesman said there were thousands of people on a waiting list to join the Defence Forces in recent times for hundreds of places.
Young people can apply to join the Reserve at the age of 17.
