Backbencher takes issue with gender equality plans

Plans by Environment Minister Phil Hogan to ensure more gender equality in elections have been criticised by one Fine Gael backbencher for not going far enough.

The Dáil has begun debating gender quota legislation which was passed in the Seanad last week, requiring each party to have at least 30% of both male and female candidates on the next general election, expected in 2016.

However, Kildare South TD Martin Heydon said, if the Government was “serious” about women’s participation in politics, quotas would be extended to include the 2014 local elections. “More local female councillors would result in more female TDs.”

The first-time TD believes a “bottom-up approach” would lead to more equality because local politics acts as “an invaluable stepping stone and powerful learning tool for many subsequent TDs”.

He said: “My biggest fear is that we introduce a 30% requirement for female candidates at the next general election and the majority of them do not get elected or are seen as token candidates. That would be much more damaging than where we are now.”

Mr Heydon believes women have always been under-represented at a local level, accounting for only 16% of all members of local authorities following the 2009 elections. He intends to raise the matter in the Dáil today and discuss it with Mr Hogan.

Under the Electoral Amendment Bill, parties will lose funding if they fail to reach the gender quotas of 30%, due to rise to 40% within seven years.

Fianna Fáil plans to table an amendment to the bill to have the laws applied to local elections, but similar amendments have already been rejected in the Seanad.

Just 25 women were elected to the Dáil in the last general election out of a total of 166 TDs. The 15% representation is the highest percentage ever achieved in the Dáil. Ireland ranks 22nd out of 27 when compared with our EU neighbours.

Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor said gender quotas are a “regrettable but necessary measure”.

“The only thing quotas have going for them is that they work. We could be waiting decades before parliaments, which are heavily tilted towards male representation, come anywhere near equal representation.”