Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

I also welcome the Minister of State and thank the Leader for the debate. It is the first time that women's participation in politics has been debated in either House of the Oireachtas, which is significant. I commend Senators Bacik and MacDonald on the work they invested in this report, which is thought provoking and provides the basis for this significant debate to take place for the first time.

I refer to participation in politics generally. Like Senator O'Donovan, I believe politics is in crisis and it is a struggle to get new people involved, regardless of whether they are women, because politics is becoming an increasingly unattractive career option. There are many reasons for that. We are held in low regard, there is a great deal of cynicism about politics and, as other colleagues said, it is a tough life requiring a considerable commitment. In examining why there is so much cynicism about politics and why it is held in such low regard, it is likely that equitable participation could play a role in improving the perception of politics given that the deficit in equitable participation has had a role in the crisis facing politics. Politics is important but little else impacts on people's day-to-day lives as much as the decisions taken by politicians.

It is regrettable that Ireland continues to languish at the bottom of the international league table when it comes to women's participation in politics. I was honoured to be the female Oireachtas representative at an interparliamentary union conference a few years ago. Every country was required to have a female representative because, without one, we were not allowed to vote at the conference. A table was produced and it was embarrassing to find Ireland was ranked lower than Iran and Iraq in regard to female participation in politics, despite our perception of ourselves as being an equitable country. We were behind other countries that do not have a good reputation on women's issues.

We should ask ourselves whether it is good to seek to address women's participation in politics and what it has to offer. There is a significant body of research around the world which has shown everything has improved greatly in countries that have generated a higher level of female participation in politics. There has been a shift in the legislative focus as a result of the increased participation of women and this benefits everyone in practice. For example, the Nordic countries have experienced a shift in legislative practice to reflect a greater focus on social justice, education, family and gender issues. It is in everyone's interest to have better and balanced decisions and that can only happen if there is more equitable, gender-based debate on legislation. Debates benefit from being better informed by varied experience and perspectives. That is what female participation in politics can bring, everyone will benefit and they should support that. It is a win-win scenario for everyone.

The report mentions setting a specific target for the number of female candidates. I would issue a word of warning on that. If we compare what has happened around the world where a move has been made to run a greater number of women candidates with Ireland, it is frequently the case that a token woman is placed on a party ticket to run for seats that they never have a chance of winning, but this allows parties to say afterwards that they had an increased representation of women. That issue arose following the 2007 general election. There were never as many women candidates as there were that year, yet a reduced number of women were elected. It was not only because people did not vote for them but when an analysis of the constituencies in which women were given the opportunity to run was conducted, it was concluded none of them was expected to take a seat. Women were, therefore, asked to run on the ticket even though the possibility of taking a seat did not exist.

It was interesting that when New Labour took power in the UK, Tony Blair followed a model through which he knew the seats his party had a good chance of winning and the Labour Party made a decision that a proportion of the constituencies should have female candidates. As a result, his party achieved one of the greatest increases in female representation in the developed world in a single election.

The report also mentions the need for support networks. I was a little unsure about all-women networks and support groups. My experience in Fianna Fáil is the women's group. I was often struck that we would be upset if a men's group was established and we were not allowed to join it. It was proposed to abolish the women's group and I was not sure about my feelings in this regard. I was approached by an older woman who said it was important that we would not abolish the group. She said that, when she joined her local cumann, she never had the confidence to speak at a meeting but, having joined the women's group, she had the opportunity to get involved in policy development. Through that forum she found the confidence to return to the cumann to tell members what we had been doing because it became competence-based confidence. I felt afterwards that if confidence was the one thing a women's support network could engender in other women to come forward with ideas, that alone made it a valuable network that would be worth retaining.

The report also makes a recommendation regarding funding incentives to encourage women to become involved in political parties. Politics costs money and is an expensive business, whether one is a man or a woman. I would not like us to move to a point where if people do not have access to funding, they cannot get involved in politics. While I was very fortunate in my career to have been able to access bank loans to fund my interest in politics, that was only because I was fortunate to have a job which facilitated that. We do not want to move to the stage of people being unable to become involved in politics owing to a lack of access to funding.

As difficult as it is for politicians generally to get funding, especially if one must rely on loans, it is even more difficult for women to access loans. I was very struck by my early experience when I was looking for credit and the bank manager said, in effect, that since I was a young woman, there was a chance I would get married, have children and not be able to make the repayments, so they could not extend me the loan. He was only saying what we know everyone else was thinking, so I believe there is an issue around funding. I do not know the answers because there are so many demands on a very limited public purse. That being so, we are talking about funding democracy to try to ensure we get the best possible people to come forward and not relegate political representation to individuals with access to other supports.

I compliment the Oireachtas education programme. A couple of recommendations in the report refer to female role models and education. The education being promoted by the Houses of the Oireachtas, whereby Members, along with other public representatives, have been visiting secondary schools, has been very positive. This plays a significant role in education, and the feedback I have received from all-girls schools in particular indicates that when female Members of the Oireachtas have been able to attend, this has sent a very powerful message to secondary school girls that challenges the male politician stereotype. That is very welcome and the personnel behind the Oireachtas education programme are to be congratulated.