Mary White (Fianna Fail)

The Minister said that women candidates melt away when sought. The Minister should appoint a body to study why that is so and why, with 50% of the workforce now women, only 13% of Dáil members are women. There is something seriously wrong if women are melting away when there are 123 new opportunities available. A consultancy group should study why women are not going forward.

I was democratically elected by a group consisting almost totally of men, to which can be added the men who supported and believed in me all my life, and who elected me to this House.