Fianna Fáil women go straight to the top... of the hotel

“And look where they put us. Stuck up here on the fifth floor.”

The women of Fianna Fáil piled into a small meeting on the top floor of the Gleneagle Hotel on Saturday to discuss how they could best progress their representation.

Making up less than 18% of candidates for May’s local elections, they believe they still have to face more barriers than their male counterparts in moving up the greasy poll of politics.

Like all parties, Fianna Fáil had set a goal of having 30% female candidates in the local elections, ahead of the 2016 general election which will introduce a quota for the first time.

But when they gathered to discuss how this figure can be improved, they were disappointed to find none of the party’s 19 male TDs, including the party leader, had decided to join them.

Earlier, Micheál Martin told the media he would “prefer a higher number than 18% for women” but “we are where we are, we have more work to do”.

But one delegate, Anne Rabbitte from Galway East, was having none of it.

“There is no point in them saying that they want to develop female representation when they don’t even turn up to hear our views on how that can be done. I’m disappointed that none of them are here, but that is where we are at.”

So, the women of Fianna Fáil, agreed, the best way to improve their lot was to roll up their sleeves and do it themselves. “Lean in” a younger delegate advised the gathering of about 20 referring to the best-selling book by Facebook executive, Sheryl Sanberg, on how women have to stick their necks out if they want to get noticed.

“Step up,” said Mrs Rabbitte: “Don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t hang back. We’ve hung back for long enough and that is why we are at 17%.”

“In Fianna Fáil there are no token women,” said Laura Reid, a local council candidate Ballymun in Dublin. “It’s difficult, you have to really prove yourself to get on the ticket so there is definitely no space for token women,” she said.

“Things like this, even if it is on the fifth floor, it just makes us feistier, makes us want to be heard more, gives us a little bit more ammunition. Hopefully we will have a huge amount of councillors who are ladies and we’ll be able to dictate a little bit more what goes on at meetings,” she said.

And in conclusion, Jennifer Cuffe — running for a council seat in Killiney in Dublin, said she looked forward to the day when women represented more than 50% of the party and “when we have groups like this, in 40 years’ time, and it’s men sitting in this room and going ‘how are we going to get back in?’

“I want to go to the ard fheis in 2050... when women are in the majority and in the senior positions.”