Taylor "earned his chips"

THE Minister for Equality and Law Reform was told yesterday that he "has more than earned his chips".

With small staff and scant resources, Mr Taylor had proved the worth of his "young" department and the benefit of having a separate Government department to deal with women, the disabled, travellers and law reform.

The plaudit came from Mr Charlie Flanagan (FG), vice chairman of the Oireachtas Women's Rights Committee which had heard a progress report from the monitoring body set up by the Minister to oversee the implementations of the recommendations of the second Commission of the Status for Women.

Mr Taylor said implementing the report was challenging. There were 211 recommendations with over 600 parts to them. This year's score rate of just over 80 per cent of the proposals implemented was vastly improved on the previous record.

The Minister was pressed on the lack of women on State boards by the chairwoman of the committee, Ms Mary Wallace (FF).

Ms Kathleen Lynch (DL) maintained women who wished to stay at home to rear their children or look after elderly relatives were not dealt with in the commission's report.

Senator Cathy Honan (PDs), who was a member of the commission, quickly responded to "this unfair charge". Women who stayed at home had proved a hugely difficult group for the commission to deal with. They were a widely disparate group of women with different needs and situations which often changed on a monthly or yearly basis. She and most members of the commission believed that economic independence for women was crucial.