Women are destined to make a bigger impact at the top levels of the Civil Service, a Minister predicted in the Seanad yesterday.
The present position of women in the service was disappointing, with only one at departmental secretary level and another who was head of an office, Ms Avril Doyle, Minister of State with responsibility for public service strategic management, said.
"We must not be despondent, however", she added. "We must recognise that, while current figures may make for less than euphoric reading, we are merely at a stage in a process." Women were still under represented at management levels in the Civil Service, but progress was continually being recorded.
The Minister was contributing to the debate on the Bill to abolish the Reinstatement Scheme, under which women who resigned from the Civil Service on marriage and were subsequently widowed or who could demonstrate that they were not being supported by their husbands, could apply for readmission to the service without having to further compete in a competition run by the Civil Service Commission.