Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I welcome the requirement for nominating bodies to nominate a panel. At least if there is position open and they nominate a man and a woman, it will ensure that there can be gender equity. As long as that provision is arbitrary and not required in legislation, the 40% target will not be met.

I thank the Minister of State for his briefing note but it reveals a mindset that I thought had disappeared. I do not know whether he knows what the civil servants are saying in his name. His briefing note states "The Minister's position is that he will encourage equal gender representation bearing in mind the availability of qualified people for the job". There is the catch that I have heard for more than a decade. The implication is that it is a great idea but we will not get women who are qualified. That is the mindset revealed in his briefing note, pure and simple, but I do not believe that is the mindset of the Minister of State, regardless of whatever words are put in his mouth by way of a briefing note.

The Minister said that when he appoints the 12th nominee, the total number of women on the board will be five. I say this in light of the fact that it will have a female representation of 43.66%. That is according to a mathematical formula which I have not calculated but which I take as being correct, based on the assumption that those who drafted the Minister of State's briefing note are able to count. If he can provide gender equity now, he can do it in perpetuity and we can insert a provision in the legislation to require that to be done. That would put paid to the old notion of one having to bear in mind the availability of qualified people for the job, as if there is any conceivable job on a board where there could not be a gender balance. That is the reasoning and the mindset that has prevented us from having equal numbers of men and women on State boards for a very long time.

There is a statutory requirement for gender equity in place for a decade or more in most Scandinavian countries. If one stood up in a parliament in a Scandinavian country and uttered that sort of old blather, one would not get out alive. It is time we stopped paying lip service to these issues. If we are serious about this matter, we would include the requirement in this statute. The Minister of State should take the brave decision, which I would applaud, and say that I am right. He should indicate that he will bite this bullet, include the requirement in the legislation and require what he is doing voluntarily to be part of the norm from now on.

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