Aim for 40% female candidates, FG urged
O’Connell calls on FG to exceed quota as parties struggle to select women
FINE Gael has been told by firebrand Deputy Kate O’Connell that the party will reap a significant electoral dividend if it pushes the percentage of female candidates towards the 40% mark.
But as speculation increases about the possibility of a snap October election, concern is growing within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that both parties will struggle to even reach the 30% gender quota.
Parties which fail to meet the quota face the stark consequence of having their State funding cut in half.
‘There’s a bit of a ladson-tour culture in FF’
Fianna Fáil, currently at 25.45% with just just 14 of its current 55 candidates being women, is significantly below the threshold.
Fine Gael is significantly closer to the mark, and with the addition of Catherine Noone in Dublin Bay North, Julie O’Leary in Cork North Central and Sarah Reilly in Meath West it has reached 29.5%.
Ms O’Connell told the Irish Mail on Sunday that party bosses should aim higher.
Fine Gael, she said, ‘is a much more relevant party because of gender quotas. We should be more ambitious than just meeting 30%’.
Ms O’Connell added: ‘Just barely passing the exam is not ideal. We should be creating the conditions to reach a 50% gender split in the Dáil and in ministerial ranks.’
She said you cannot ‘fully represent our changed society if we as a party don’t reflect that diversity.’
Ms O’Connell’s party colleague, Deputy Maria Bailey, echoed this view, saying that ‘it is very important people see Fine Gael as a representative of our society. We have a lot of young female TDs with children. There is an understanding in Cabinet of this issue; ministers like Paschal Donohoe and Simon Coveney have working wives with children. They can relate to the issues people face,’ she added.
Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughten said the party must ‘move towards 40% and we should aim to secure a similar level of participation in universities and business. We need female role models there.’
Despite the difficulties facing Fianna Fáil, its spokeswoman on children, Anne Rabbitte, said: ‘We have moved on from people wondering if they are trying to cod us with these women.
‘I had my convention. There was no mention of gender quotas, I came out with a resounding victory. That’s the gender quota in action.’
Ms Rabbitte also predicted that despite Fianna Fáil’s difficulties it would have a flurry of potential Oireachtas candidates after the council elections next May.
Another Fianna Fáil TD, however, said: ‘It is still hard yards on the gender issue with Fianna Fáil. There is still a bit of a lads-on-tour culture within FF.’
Having completed 32 conventions, Fianna Fáil is running out of opportunities to add further female candidates to the party ticket. Fine Gael, with 18 female candidates out of 61, is closer to the all-important cut-off point.
However, the party, which has held 29 out of 39 conventions, is struggling to secure female candidates in rural Ireland.
Constituencies where it has no female candidates include Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath West, Limerick County, Kildare North, Galway East, Cork South Central, Cork South West, Cork North West, Clare, Donegal and the Dublin constituencies of Fingal, Dublin South West, Fingal and Dublin Central.
Sinn Féin has achieved the most gender-friendly ratio, with 42.2% of its candidates in 38 constituencies being female.
In the Labour Party eight out of 21 candidates are women (38%).
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who has been criticised for the lack of women in his cabinet, has blamed a shortage of women TDs within Fine Gael.