Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 17, to delete lines 1 to 3 and substitute the following:

"(9) Not less than 40 per cent of the members of a Body shall be men and not less than 40 per cent shall be women.".

The subject of this amendment arises time and again and relates to ensuring a gender balance on State boards and bodies. When I raised this matter on Committee Stage, I was struck by the fact that the Minister supported it in principle. She said there could be problems in ensuring the balance across the board and claimed that women dominated in many areas. That was news to me. The Minister said she would consider my amendment sympathetically.

There is no provision in the legislation — maybe I am missing it — to show there has been any movement to get the balance right. Ultimately, it is all a matter of where one stands. If one is in favour of ensuring a balance, one can deliver it. Arguments were made in the past that a gender balance of 40% could not be achieved because there were not enough women in senior positions in the areas of concern. When this was put to the test, it was quite clear that the Minister was motivated and wanted to do right by women. As a result, many women have been promoted to decision-making positions in a beneficial way. This goes some way towards striking the balance although we are a long way off parity.

In this instance, the argument is that we may not be able to find enough men in senior positions. I do not accept this in respect of women or men. If this were a matter of Catholics and Protestants, black and white or Jew and Christian, we would not even have to debate it; we would automatically have provided safeguards to ensure proper representation on decision-making boards. Given that this is an issue of men and women and that we operate in a context in which women comprise only 13% of the representatives of this House, which figure is lower than the average in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a culture of denying the imbalance that pervades not only State boards but also other boards with decision-making power throughout society. When we have an opportunity to put things right, we should seize it and address the imbalance in good heart. I believed the Minister had taken on board my message and therefore the Minister of State might tell me what resulted from the fine words we heard on Committee Stage.

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