Three questions I’d like to ask Olwyn’s low-profile husband

THE fuss about Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright’s announcement of her planned departure from politics has been justified because of how it illustrates the difficulties of time management faced by women who want an active political career, especially those with pre-school and schoolgoing children.

But much of it has missed another important point: if politics is a relatively unattractive occupation for a woman of child-rearing age, it is also potentially a very poor use of time for a father as well, particularly those who have to overnight in Dublin for sittings of the Dáil and its various committees.

Joe McHugh, the relatively low-profile Fine Gael TD for Donegal North East, was quiet this week as his 36-year-old wife, pregnant with their second child, announced her decision to retire from politics at the next general election.