Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

I also worked closely with colleagues such as the former Minister for Justice, Nora Owen, and Niamh Bhreathnach who made great contributions when in government. I have worked with my Fine Gael colleague from the midlands, Deputy Olwyn Enright, as well as her father, in the interests of the constituents of the area.

Previously, 22% of the membership of this House were women; the figure is now 20%. The 12 female Members are Senators Ormonde, Feeney, Mary White, McDonald, Prendergast, Healy Eames, McFadden, now my local colleague, O'Malley, Corrigan, Fitzgerald, the Leader of the Fine Gael group in the House, Bacik and Keaveney. These Members make tremendous contributions on the floor of the Upper House.

There is a regulation in the Fianna Fáil Party that at least 20% of the membership of the officer board in each cumann, comhairle ceantair and comhairle Dáil cheantair must be female. This has been the case for a number of years. We are doing everything we possibly can to encourage greater female participation in politics. As Senator Corrigan said in her excellent contribution on her experiences and challenges in getting off the ground as a female politician, it is not an easy profession in which to participate; with no guaranteed tenure, it is extremely unattractive to many.

If one is not motivated by the urge to give of one's time to public service, my advice would be to forget about it because the motivating factor must be to do good for one's parish, community, county and constituency. That is what motivates most of the membership of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. They are men and women who are privileged to represent their constituents in the Houses. In the minds of most the definition of a good politician, be it a man or woman, is someone who can bring the most to their area in terms of schools or other infrastructure. Only a small percentage are fortunate enough to serve in Cabinet as Ministers or as Ministers of State. Only a small percentage of those who are elected have that privilege.

This is probably the first of many discussions we will have in the House on how we can encourage women to participate in politics more fully. Let me give an example. In the 2002 general election the constituency of Westmeath had seven candidates, four of whom were women. However, the electorate chose three men to represent it. It corrected this on the last occasion after the commission had transferred part of my constituency to the constituency of Meath, but be that as it may, I can honestly say I have worked very well with Deputy Mary O'Rourke who has served her constituency outstandingly well. I look forward to working with her in the future in the interests of our constituents. Who the electorate decides should represent the constituency for the coming period has never been a problem. As democrats, we have always accepted its decision.

I compliment Senator Bacik on her publication. I have always supported her calls and those of all female Members of the House for debates on what are considered to be urgent matters to be put before Members for their consideration. I look forward to assisting all of my colleagues on a daily and weekly basis in that regard. I acknowledge colleagues who were elected to serve on local authorities, including Councillor O'Donovan from Tipperary who is in the Visitors Gallery. He is most welcome.