Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Some do not even have ties. I also went to the film about Margaret Thatcher, which was very interesting. It was a reminder to us that some women with children can break through that barrier. With all the challenges we talk about it is possible. I do not know if Chancellor Merkel has children and what ages they might be. I know the US Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, went into politics when her daughter was comparatively young. So there are success stories. I am on the board of a European organisation representing 6 million shops in Europe. I was chairman of the body and the new chairman to be elected shortly will be one of two women candidates, one from London and one from Athens, both of whom are mothers. I do not know how they fit that in - it is a very difficult challenge. We need to find some way to get more women into politics and I am not sure how we will do that.

Linking quotas for women and funding is more complex than it first appears. How far we should take quotas is also a good topic for debate. It is not correct to say that women are not well represented across the political spectrum. The academics, Fiona Buckley and Claire McGing, recently provided figures indicating that women are very involved in the local echelons of political parties, accounting for 42% of the membership of Fine Gael, 37% in Labour, 34% in Fianna Fáil and 25% in Sinn Féin. However, it seems that running for election is not as attractive to women as it is to men. They pointed out that research undertaken with party women reveals a vicious circle of supply and demand barriers. Women are less likely to contest selection conventions because they believe they lack the local support base required, but they are also less likely to be approached to run by party selectors when an electoral opportunity opens up. Of the 18 candidates added to tickets by Fine Gael headquarters following selection conventions for the 2011 election, only two were women. Only two of the eight candidates added by the Labour Party were female. Should we at least get them on the ballot paper and let the voters decide or will political parties be reduced to tokenism?

Senator Leyden raised a very interesting point for those of us who sit on these benches when he talked about quotas for political parties. Of the six university Senators - I have been a Senator for almost 20 years - we have always had one woman. It is Senator Bacik at the moment and prior to her it was Dr. Mary Henry and earlier on Dr. Mary Robinson and others. I believe there has always been only one. However, how can a quota be put in? I believe we had 24 candidates on the NUI panel in the last Seanad election and I cannot remember how many were women.