Trying to grasp the gender imbalance in Irish politics

Recently, I have been doing a school project on the main political parties in Ireland.

I was interested in the gender balance in Irish politics. The different numbers of men and women TDs or MLAs in our main political parties interests me the most. I know that the first woman, and the youngest woman, ever elected to the British House of Parliament were both from Ireland. So, Ireland must be a great place for women politicians. Right? But, in my project I discovered that Fianna Fáil has no women TDs at all, and the next two parties, Fine Gael and the DUP, have hardly any elected women. The two parties with the most elected TDs and MLAs are the two left-wing parties, Labour and Sinn Féin. Now, I have to work out what all this means. Maybe, when I’m older, I’ll understand.

Oisín Sheehan (aged 11)