Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 9, to delete lines 16 to 19 and substitute the following:

"(3) Of the members of the Council, no fewer than 6 of their number shall be men and no fewer than 6 of their number shall be women.".

It is important that gender balance on State boards is enshrined in legislation. When I was a Minister of State, I was responsible for Bord na gCon and there were three women on it when I left office in 1997. The Government then had a clear policy that there should be a balance of at least 60:40. That policy has not been maintained because no women sit on Bord na gCon now. At any track, half of the customers will be female. From now on while I am on this side of the House, I will table an amendment to any Bill that involves the creation of a body such as this authority to guarantee equality in gender representation.

Section 11(7) on membership of the Arts Council in the Arts Act 2003 contains a provision whereby no fewer than six of the council shall be women and no fewer than six shall be men. That is the wording I want to include in this Bill. If it is good enough for the Arts Act 2003, why is it not good enough for the National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006? It will be difficult to explain that.

The Minister gave a commitment, and I do not dispute his bone fides, that females will be looked after by the new authority. If the Minister is committed to female participation and is prepared to give those guarantees, why not accept this amendment? It is obvious that if there is not gender balance on a board, the female viewpoint will not come across. This facility is vital to the future development of athletics and will have a huge community element, so the Minister should accept the amendment to ensure gender balance.

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