Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will be familiar with the public sector trends research carried out by the Institute of Public Administration, IPA. In its latest study published in December, it found that the proportion of women on the boards of non-commercial State agencies varies greatly by parent Department. The highest proportion of women are represented on traditional feminised boards with responsibility for areas of social policy such as education, children and youth affairs, although all of those fall shy of gender parity. One of the most disappointing findings was that the Taoiseach's Department had the lowest proportion of women on non-commercial State boards. I would be interested to find out whether this position has changed since the research was published.

The report also finds that boards that fall under the remit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, whose responsibility it is to deliver Civil Service renewal, have the fourth lowest proportion of women despite the fact that there is now a higher share of women in professional posts, for example, working as senior economists or policy analysts. This demonstrates that there is no shortage of women with the necessary education and skills to populate these types of boards. A total of 40% of those on State boards are women but just 27% of them hold chairperson roles. Eleven boards have no female representation at all. Less than half of State boards have reached the minimum 40% target of female representation. I take no pleasure in noting that the Department of the Taoiseach has the worst report card when it comes to women's participation on State boards. This sends out a very bad signal to women of all ages inside and outside the public sector. I am sure the Taoiseach has read the IPA research and I would be interested to hear what action he has taken or intends to take to increase the number of women on boards under the aegis of his Department.

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