Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this important Bill on political reform which was identified in the programme for Government as being badly needed in this country. I want to point to three items I find particularly welcome. The first is that on the day the Mahon tribunal report was published, the tribunal has identified both public sector and private sector corruption across our society. It is clear we need to address this problem and, in terms of the caps on political donations, the Bill certainly does that.

Second, I welcome the list of lobbyists. It is only fair that people know this information and that we have a more open and transparent democracy. To have such lists will mean we know exactly what is happening and who is lobbying for what.

Third, while many have spoken about the cost of the tribunals, they have done us a great service in establishing facts. I have no doubt the legal processes in this country will follow that trail and pursue where necessary. A further point is that they have provoked Government into producing ethics legislation around our democracy, which is very welcome.

I wish to focus primarily on the gender balance provisions in the Bill. It is a shame that, as a society, we have to intervene in this area. We are a representative democracy but, unfortunately, one gender is not properly represented in the House where 85% of Deputies are male. This is a significant indicator that we are not a fully representative democracy.

I draw the attention of the House to a number of interesting facts. Where quotas have been introduced, they have been known to work. For example, in Sweden, 46% of parliamentarians are now female following the introduction of quotas and the figure is 44.5% for South Africa. It is well established that this intervention is very positive in terms of ensuring a true democracy that really works.

The various barriers have been well documented at this stage - cash, culture, candidate selection, child care and confidence. All of these have applied to me as a woman entering the political arena. Once we can address and recognise those barriers, we will go a long way towards addressing the issue.

I have heard comment that many people, both male and female, are very concerned about tokenism, and I completely understand their sincere concerns around this issue. However, we should remember there are plenty of male token candidates who are added to the ticket at the discretion of the parties to ensure they win seats. I doubt very much that any of them lie awake at night wondering if anybody is declaring they are only token candidates. I do not see this as being an issue. At the end of the day, the Bill encourages the parties to have candidate quotas, not seat quotas. In the election last year, I was the only female candidate out of 20 candidates in Laoighis-Offaly, so I know that selection is only half the battle and that a person still has to get elected. Anybody who can get themselves elected, regardless of whether they are added on by a party, deserves the seat and should not be considered in any way as a token candidate.

The Bill seeks to ensure that within seven years we will have 40% women candidates, which is a good target. I believe this will only be a temporary measure. If we have role models so that our young people can see women in all walks of life, we will certainly provide encouragement. Reference was made to the local elections. While I would have liked to have seen this introduced for local elections, I understand an amendment to the Electoral Act would be required. However, Fine Gael introduced this during the last local elections for town councils and we were successful in that we not only found the candidates but they got elected. It does work.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women refers to a critical mass of 30% to 35% female participation to ensure we have equality in society. I acknowledge the National Women's Council of Ireland, the joint committee which produced the report in the last term of Government, the Women in Government group and the 50:50 group for the fantastic research and work they are doing to help us to encourage people to support what we are doing. I hope we will see the first female Taoiseach in my lifetime.

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