Kenny: Slow progress getting more women on boards

Progress on increasing the representation of women on state boards “has been slow” the Taoiseach has admitted.

Enda Kenny said there are “significant deviations” between the government departments. He said a “pattern has emerged over the years whereby significant numbers of women are present on boards with a caring focus but fewer are on boards with an economic or business focus.”

A promise for a 40% gender quota on all state boards was made in 1991, again in 2005, and by the Coalition in its Programme for Government.