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After over four years of non general service recruitment to the Air Corps, exasperated more recently by a ban on recruitment introduced in late 2008 the Government has approved targeted recruitment in 2011 focused firmly on maintaining the operational efficiency of the Defence Forces. To this end, 40 Air Corps recruits out of a total of 242 throughout the Defence Forces were inducted into the service earlier this year and are undergoing training. A number of technical appointments will also be filled. However, the Government will struggle to meet its commitment top have at least 10% female members of the Defence Forces. The percentage of female personnel serving on 31 March was 5.9% of the overall strength of the Force on that date of which 32 were in the Air Corps.