Politics is a closed gender shop

Young, vibrant and willing to go out on a limb, the surprise is that Averil Power lasted so long in among the FF boys, writes Alison O’Connor

To have just two female parliamentary party members in the first place could be regarded as a misfortune; to lose one of those, as Oscar Wilde may have put it, looks like definite carelessness.

It was with a great sense of regret that I heard of the decision of Senator Averil Power to resign from Fianna Fáil yesterday. She leaves Senator Mary White as the only female TD or senator in amongst the FF boys, God help us.