Mary White (Fianna Fail)

In The Irish Times today there is a United Nations report to the effect that Ireland is one of the worst countries in Europe in this regard and, in the world league of countries, comes behind 12 African countries. Eritrea, Angola and Rwanda have more women parliamentarians than Ireland. It is no coincidence that the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland, where there are positive political programmes to secure the election of women to parliament, also have the best family protection and social policies and are peaceful and prosperous countries.