President praises Costa Rica for high number of women in office

President Michael D Higgins has lauded Costa Rica for the high proportion of women in political office in his first public comments since arriving in the Central American state on his tour of Latin America.

Mr Higgins said that Costa Rica could be proud that 39 per cent of the country's parliament were women. He was speaking yesterday at a lunch hosted by the country's president, Laura Chinchilla.

This compares with the 15 per cent of women in Dáil Éireann. It was apt that the first ambassadors exchanged between Ireland, Irish Ambassador in Mexico Sonya Hyland, and Costa Rica, ambassador Saborio de Rocafort, were women, he said.

Mr Higgins arrived in Costa Rica on Saturday evening on the final leg of his 12-day tour of Latin America, which has included stops in Mexico and El Salvador. Ms Chinchilla spoke of the "bond" between the states on "peace . . . and sustainable development".