Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

People face all sorts of barriers, depending on their circumstances. There are socio-economic barriers and barriers related to race and membership of minorities. Therefore, we need to see things in the round. As the Deputy knows, three of our seven Cabinet Ministers are female. We have 66 female councillors, which is more than any other party. We have more female MEPs than any other party but it is not the case that we are anywhere close to achieving parity, particularly in the Oireachtas. A former Fine Gael Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan, introduced the gender quota legislation, so I do not see it as an obligation so much as something we want to do. We are going to achieve it for the next election and I hope we will see a significant increase in the number of female Deputies and Senators in the next Oireachtas. As the Deputy knows, the Seanad is much more balanced than the Dáil, for many different reasons.