Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

As the significant increase in female entrants to those professions in recent years filters through to the higher echelons of the courts and the consultant grades in the medical profession, women may come to dominate the courts, for example. If the level of new female entrants is anything to go by, we may get to the stage when we will consider the introduction of gender quotas to ensure men are represented in the Supreme Court and High Court.

Lack of confidence is often posited as a reason for fewer women becoming involved in politics but when one examines what has happened in other professions that are difficult to enter and require a high level of confidence and willingness to put oneself out there, it is clear that a lack of confidence has not been a barrier to the involvement of women in such professions. Deeper issues are at stake in terms of why women have not come to the fore to the same extent in politics. Ultimately, it may come down to the lifestyle involved and the fact that it is much more difficult to regulate politics in the same way one regulates a profession in terms of, for example, providing maternity and paternity leave, holidays, lifestyle and hours of work. An increase in the number of women participating in politics may lead to a change in the political culture which can feed into that. The ultimate arbiter of change is the voter. Most politicians accept that, on balance, the number of meetings attended, hours worked and sacrifices made pay off in terms of the vote garnered.

Ultimately, democracy is pure and to make the lifestyle more attractive to both male and female candidates is not something that could be easily done. It is, however, part of the issue. If, through the introduction of gender quotas there is an increase in the number of female candidates and a resultant increase in the number of female Oireachtas Members elected, this Chamber would be a different place. It would lead to a positive change in the political culture which could ensure change is more rapidly expedited than heretofore.

I commend many of the initiatives in the Bill, in particular the one that relates to corporate donations but the Minister could have gone further in terms of political donations. The Bill is, however, positive and is heading in the right direction.

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