Labour seeks more women for Dáil

THE LABOUR Party had a “credible prospect of leading the next Government” and in power would legislate to link public funding for political parties to the number of women candidates they nominated for Dáil elections, the party’s leader has said.

Eamon Gilmore, addressing the National Conference of Labour Women at the weekend, said the party would be seeking more women to stand for the party in the next Dáil election.

The lack of women in public office often contributed to the sense of it being at a remove from real life. Just 23 of the Dáil’s 166 deputies are women, or 13 per cent.

“We in the Labour Party are in a better position to talk about representative democracy than most. One third of our TDs are women, compared with a mere 9 per cent in Fianna Fáil and 10 per cent in Fine Gael.

“Twenty-two per cent of our city and county councillors are women, compared to 18 per cent nationally.”

He said it was “abundantly clear . . . there is no one on the Government benches willing to stand up for women’s rights”.

However, following recent attendances at meetings of new Labour candidates at Dublin City University and at Trinity College Dublin, most of the candidates were men.

“There had to be a move to make politics issue-led rather than ego-led, as this was turning women off.

“Secondly, being an elected representative is extremely demanding on one’s time, on one’s family and on one’s life.

“One part of the solution, for example, might be to agree more family-friendly working practices for the Dáil and for local councils.”

The outgoing chair of Labour Women, Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin, said women in particular would feel the brunt of cuts being made in public spending.

She cited cuts to domestic violence services, community projects and health services for women and children.