Parties sticking with male candidates for local elections

Despite repeated promises by the four main political parties to get more women involved in local politics, only 15 out of 71 candidates standing for Cork County Council in May’s local elections are female.

Fine Gael — currently the largest party on the council with 22 seats — is fielding 28 candidates.

Fianna Fáil, which has 12 seats, is fielding 22, while Labour, with seven seats, is putting nine into the field.