The not-so grand total of women at decision-making level in government amounts to 7 out of 34 ministers

What jobs there were were mostly for the boys, writes Lise Hand

Oh dear. At the start of Leo Varadkar’s first official Leaders’ Questions, there were more long faces among the government backbenchers than one would see at the starting-line of the Aintree Grand National.

The Taoiseach had warned them all, well in advance, that when it came to selecting the subs’ bench for his dream team (a.k.a. the junior ministers), there would be “more disappointments than appointments”.