Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I support the amendment. Unfortunately, those elements of nominating bodies, including the Government, which should be most flexible in achieving the goals set out in the proposal tend to be the least responsive. I was a member of the National Economic and Social Council, which is composed of five nominees from each of the five representative pillars, namely, IBEC, ICTU, the farming sector, the community and voluntary sector and Departments. From my recollection, the representatives of IBEC and the farming pillar were all male, those of the ICTU pillar were 80% male and those of the community and voluntary pillar were 60% female. As there are only two female Secretaries General in government service, just 20% of the Government representatives were female, with the sole woman representative an assistant secretary general in the Department of the Taoiseach. The Government was invariably represented by Secretaries General from key economic Ministries. Strangely, the community and voluntary pillar came under the greatest pressure to increase its female membership as a means of boosting the overall proportion of female members on the NESC, despite the fact that three of its five representatives were female.

Not only should the figure set out in the amendment be attained for the new body but the social partners and, specifically, the Government must provide evidence to show they are prepared to meet gender balance targets such as that set out in the amendment. Perhaps the amendment needs to be strengthened in some respects given that the experience to date has been that these sectors have not been prepared to work towards this goal.

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