Martin says FF planned for quota of women

FIANNA FÁIL had planned to ensure 30 per cent of its candidates in the next general election were women before the Government’s gender quota was proposed, party leader Micheál Martin said.

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan will this week ask the Cabinet to sign off legislation that will mean State funding for political parties will be cut by half unless the minimum target for women candidates is reached.

Mr Martin said increasing the number of women and younger people in politics was one of his key priorities and a major part of what he described as “the renewal” of the Fianna Fáil party.

“We must move towards securing a fairer gender balance in Irish political life. The targets mentioned in the briefings by the Minister are in line with what we will be doing within the Fianna Fáil party, regardless of any legislation,” Mr Martin said.

“We look forward to examining the Bill in detail. It is crucial that any legislative changes we make have the effect of more women actually being elected to more seats on councils around the country and to more seats in Dáil Éireann.”

Ciarán Cannon of Fine Gael, Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, said at the weekend he would have reservations about the proposed legislation and that it was not a “standalone solution” to the under-representation of women in politics.

The current Dáil has 166 seats, 25 of which are occupied by women. Mr Cannon said a woman’s decision not to enter politics could be influenced by a number of factors, which could take years to alter.

“I think what Minister Hogan is deciding to do here is to effect a cultural shift with the imposition of these candidature targets on the parties across the whole political spectrum, and from that point of view I agree with the proposal,” he told RTÉ radio.

The chief executive of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Susan McKay, said the proposed legislation was “great news” for those who had campaigned for such a move. “We commend Minister Phil Hogan’s swift and decisive action in proposing this radical move and we look forward to working with the political parties to help them to implement the changes which will be necessary to turn Ireland into a full democracy at last,” Ms McKay said.

Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan, an opponent of quotas, said women were capable of getting nominated without help. Labour TD Anne Ferris and party Senator Susan O’Keeffe welcomed the move. Asked about the issue last year, Róisín Shortall of the Labour Party, now Minister of State at the Department of Health, said she would not support political parties being required to adopt gender quotas in candidate selection process. She could not be reached for comment yesterday.