Vol. 496 No. 7
100 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Defence if, further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 115 and 182 of 11 November 1998, he will alter regulations in order to allow those members of the Naval Service who were rejected for consideration for interview for apprenticeships on age grounds to be considered particularly in view of their satisfactory service to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24000/98]
While the upper age limit that applied to the recent Naval Service apprenticeship competition was under 19 years of age on 1 September 1998 for general candidates, this upper age limit was extended to under 22 years of age for members of the Permanent Defence Force. Given the policy of reducing the age profile of the Defence Forces in accordance with the recommendations of the Defence Forces review implementation plan, I do not propose to extend these upper age limits.
