The Oireachtas was not entitled to enact a law which tells political parties their general elections candidates “must be gender balanced”, the Supreme Court has been told.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Fianna Fáil activist Brian Mohan over his failed challenge to a law linking State funding of political parties to their meeting gender quota targets when selecting general election candidates.

Fianna Fáil activist Brian Mohan is not legally entitled to challenge the constitutionality of a law linking State funding of political parties to their meeting gender quota targets when selecting general election candidates, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A Fianna Fáil member has launched a legal action against gender quotas.

The Fine Gael mayor of Tralee, who claimed he was discriminated against because of a gender quota directive from the party in the selection of candidates for the local elections, yesterday announced his resignation from the party.