Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for facilitating me to participate in the meeting. I was laughing when Dr. Buckley spoke about random selection because the witness is named Buckley, the Chair is named Bacik and I am named Boyhan. We are Bs and I like being up at the top. It is an advantage and incumbents also have an advantage. That is an important point to make as according to all the statistics people who are elected and seek election again have an advantage and it has been shown in a lot of research.

I only have a few comments to make. I sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and we have dealt with many of the issues this committee has talked about, although perhaps not in as in-depth a manner as this committee has. I support diverse people coming into politics, including women, men, young people and older people. If I had my way people would vote and participate in elections at a younger age, but we have not come to that yet.

I will share a few thoughts with the witnesses. I listened to their engagement with the committee on the monitor in my office and there was a recurring theme of political parties. I am an Independent Senator. I was elected as a party member. The party, the Progressive Democrats, subsequently wound down. I wanted to continue to engage in politics so I became an Independent candidate. I had an advantage as I had been through the mill but many women who I work very closely with are Independents and were elected the first time out in the last local elections and they are hoping to run again. That is brilliant. It is a far tougher operation when candidates are on their own and they have to be self-starters. I am reminded of a seasoned politician in the Oireachtas who told me not to forget that when we come into the Houses we are all sole traders. Many politicians talk about being sole traders, which I do not necessarily believe.

I will say a few things. Clearly we want local government and politics generally to reflect the people in society because that is positive. Sufficient emphasis, money or resources have not been put into mentoring more women, particularly independent women, into politics. I ask everyone to be mindful of that. Many people are embedded in their communities in a whole range of community activities and advocacy groups and feel they cannot get into politics or it is not for them. We need to be mindful that it is not all about the parties mopping up all of the talent locally. Some people may wish to go the independent route and with that in mind, we have set up a funding mechanism to promote independent candidates entering politics and the Department is funding some of this. I will be able to share more detail on it. It is very important and I acknowledge the support from the Department. It is important that I feed that into the committee's-----