merrion street

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today addressed the conference "How to Elect More women?" in Dublin Castle. Speaking at the conference, the Taoiseach said:

I was most anxious to be part of this great conference and I am delighted to have the opportunity to wish you well at the outset...Today we are concentrating on the important role women can play in political life...

The Programme for National Recovery agreed between the two Government parties made specific commitments in relation to the greater engagement of women in decision-making, both on state boards and in political life.

The Taoiseach spoke of candidate quotas:

I know that the idea of quotas is always a cause of energetic debate . To those who challenge the concept, I will just point out that women have been voting in Ireland for over 90 years, but our system, has failed to provide the people with a higher and more appropriate representation by women in the Dáil and the Oireachtas. That’s a reason why, when we could influence this, a higher proportion of women were appointed by me to Seanad Eireann than ever before from the nominees of the Taoiseach. As Parties we will offer the electorate broader choices in the future and are committed to making that happen.

Today we have a Dáil with one female TD for every six male TDs. If the candidate quotas work and if the electorate respond to the candidates in the same way as they did in our last election, we will have more than one woman for every three men in the next Dáil. This will bring better decision-making. We know that men and women offer a range of equal skills and a range of complementary skills. The meshing of those skills will enhance the quality of our decision-making, of our laws, of our society.

Read the Taoiseach's full speech here.