A raised eyebrow does little to counter underlying culture of sex scandals

Ireland has had its share of political sex scandals, which will continue to happen unless we tackle the ‘boys will be boys’ culture and get more women involved in running the country, writes Bette Browne

THE resignation of Dublin TD Patrick Nulty over inappropriate messages on social media is yet another Dáil scandal, hot on the heels of last summer’s ‘Lapgate’ incident, reminding us that Ireland is no different from the rest of the world when it comes to political sex scandals — they will keep on happening as long as we content ourselves with the raising of an eyebrow but do little to change the underlying culture.

That was the verdict of some female Oireachtas members. Take Senator Ivana Bacik, deputy leader of Seanad Éireann, who believes we need to fundamentally shake up the male-dominated culture in both chambers and having more women elected would help to achieve that.