Women in politics ‘suffers setback’

Efforts to encourage more women to enter politics have suffered a setback as a result of the failure of the Taoiseach to include any female TDs in his junior ministerial appointments, it has been claimed.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland joined a number of backbench TDs in strongly criticising Enda Kenny for failing to redress a significant gender imbalance when announcing promotions this week.

The group has also questioned the Government’s commitment to the successful implementation of the gender quotas at the next general election.