Ireland among worst in EU for female politicians

IRISH women are among the most under-represented in political life in the EU, according to a study.

The current situation is unfair, unintelligent and ineffective, according to Terry Davis, head of the Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights and democracy body.

Published to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, it shows women’s participation in public life has stagnated and falls well short of the 40% minimum recommended by the CoE.

Ireland has fewer women TDs, ministers, junior ministers, mayors, councillors and ambassadors than most EU countries according to the latest figures.

The future does not look any better for would-be politicians as Ireland has the least councillors in local authorities of any EU country, other than Italy, at just 17%.

It has the third least number of junior ministers, with just 10% of those who get special responsibilities and big cars.

With just over 13% of TDs being women, the country has the fifth least female representatives of all the EU countries in the main legislative body.

Women fare slightly better when it comes to ministers, with 20% of posts, though these tend to be in the more social areas rather than the powerhouses of finance, justice and foreign affairs.

Irish women are under-represented in the diplomatic corps, with just 9% of ambassadors being women, while counsellors accounted for 205 of the total.

Irish women are best represented in the European Parliament, where 38%, or five of the eight MEPs, are female — two independents and three from Fine Gael.

But in the Council of Europe itself, which is completely independent of the EU, women account for just 12% of the representatives, coming fourth last in the list of EU countries.