Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As for the NESC, to be precise, the percentage of women stands at 19%. Most of the boards in question should have many more women serving on them. However, these bodies are all composed of representatives of the social partners. Farmers, employers and trade unions do not have a tendency to appoint anything which resembles a fair representation of women, in spite of ongoing arguments and battles about it. As Deputy Kenny correctly noted, my Department does not control many appointments. However, an effort is made in the case of our independent nominees, who form a small portion of the total, as well as the Oireachtas nominees, who are a matter for the Oireachtas. Nevertheless, the figures from the social partners are not great. All I can do is to relay again the House's concern about the representative bodies. While the social partners could do better, they tend not to.

See this speech in context