Ms Caitr?ona Gleeson:

I acknowledge, from previous advocacy roles, the benefit of having that critical mass in the Seanad and witnessing that culture shift. We are looking to achieve that critical mass in other chambers. On employment, I cannot recall - perhaps Dr. Buckley can - but I read something recently about that need for employers generally to change their attitudes towards politics. It raises a question about the wider culture in Ireland around our attitudes towards politics. For us in Women For Election, we would love to be in a country where politics is seen as a natural career or an actual active citizenship activity as much as participating in local sports or local support to the community or economy is. That shift then spins into employment. We can track it in those measures for teachers. I remember the Senator raising that with us previously.

The association of having been in politics and then employment is a very negative one. It can sometimes affect women and men when applying for jobs, that is, having had an association with politics. It is a chicken-and-egg situation, but we somehow have to get at that culture shift. The employment groups and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment have a key role. We raised it with the Minister responsible for higher education recently in terms of extending that teacher space over into the university space. Again, that is a population where there would, technically, be more downtime available. Some would argue differently. Dr. Buckley might be one. These are the ways in which we can look creatively at the situation. The Civil Service is another area where there is a bar to participation in politics. There would be a bar in many NGOs in terms of association with politics. These are the things we have to look at. It is a shift. It is not like politics is a bad thing; it is a fantastic thing. It is a critical thing for us all to be engaged with from the cradle, or maybe from preschool, right up.