David Norris (Independent)

So the committee got it wrong too. Interestingly, according to my report, it states there are 14% in the Dáil and "only" 17% in the Seanad. It should have started with the larger number in the Seanad and then "only" the smaller number in the Dáil.

Fianna Fáil took on the issue to an extent. I read the party's gender equality audit and the gender equality action plan. There is a nice photograph of Bertie Ahern and some excellent rhetoric that approximately one half of the entire population is grossly under-represented at almost every level of the body politic and that in 2004, Irish politics is still largely a man's world. Then Sir Humphrey follows Bertie and there is a lot of wonderful language but there is a voice in the background that can be heard saying: "Yes, that will fix them for the next 40 years. We need not bother about that again."

There were, however, some interesting elements to the report. There was a reported reluctance on the part of Fianna Fáil, or any of the other parties for that matter, to choose women candidates for winnable seats. Senator McDonald mentioned the term "sweepers". Female candidates are fine as sweepers, sweeping the votes in for the lads. On the other hand, there was a suspicion that women are more interested in the home and the family and, thereby, not really qualified.

Thank God, during my lifetime we have seen some remarkable developments, such as the women's liberation movement in the early 1970s and the establishment of the National Women's Council, an excellent briefing group, representatives of which are present. Of course, there was Mary Robinson. Her performance in this House, on Dublin City Council and at the Bar, where she represented all of the most progressive social issues, helped to transform Irish politics and started to remove what a leading academic had described as the disempowerment of Irish women as citizens. I was at her inaugural address in Dublin Castle in 1999, when she said "As a woman, I want women who have felt themselves outside history to be written back into history". That was most remarkable.

She has been followed by President Mary McAleese. One of the academic studies I read drew a contrast between Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, which is perfectly reasonable because they are very different people and I did not agree with some of President McAleese's views before she was President, although now she is above politics. Ascribed to her in the document are not only reactionary views, as they were described, on abortion, contraception and so on, but also on homosexuality. That is not fair. She was one of the co-founders of the campaign for homosexual law reform with me so that should not be allowed to stand as a view of the President.

There is a problem with quotas because they are conceived as discriminatory. They may, however, be a necessary mechanism. Looking at the situation elsewhere, according to Professor Yvonne Galligan, in Europe five countries have passed candidate quota legislation binding on all parties, ranging from a 33% gender quota in Portugal to a 50% quota in France and Belgium, with Spain and Slovenia in between at 40% and 35%, respectively. Their enactment has made a difference. In Spain, women's representation in parliament has gone from 28% in 2002, before the law was passed, to 36% in 2008, a huge jump in a comparatively small space of time politically. In Belgium, female representation in parliament has increased from 12% in 1995 to 37%. That is incredible - an increase of 25%. In France, the application of the parity laws to municipal elections increased women's representation from 26% in 1995 to 49% in 2008. That is the legislative model. There is also a voluntary code for political parties internally.

Various Senators have mentioned the five Cs. In my male arrogance, I thought I was the first person to note all five started with a "C" but then I looked in the appendix and saw a reference to the five Cs - child care, cash, culture, candidate selection procedures and confidence.

Members who get pregnant or who have children should instantly be paired. I was horrified to find this does not happen. It should happen immediately and the parties can do it. Female Members should sit on them, as it were, and demand pairing arrangements. It does not cost anything and will not lose a vote. It is terribly important and can be done straight away.