Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I wonder whether a covert operation was underway given the announcement that Lar Corbett is retiring. Had the Minister anything to do with influencing him to make things easier for Kilkenny this time out?

Those of us on this side of the House are pleased to give the legislation a fair wind despite some reservations on how it will be executed and the impact it will have. A great deal of rhetoric surrounds this issue. I wish to nail my colours to the mast in that I was privileged to have been a member of the Irish delegation to the Council of Europe between 2002 and 2007 where I sat on the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. Members will note that it was referred to as the committee for women and men. I was the rapporteur for a report, adopted unanimously by the assembly in 2004, calling for more participation by women in politics. It is on the website for anyone who wishes to examine the deliberations and recommendations.

Having said that, I question whether the legislative route is the way to go. Several facts jump out. There are legislative models throughout the world which apply under various guises, whether to do with seat selection, candidate selection or simple quotas. Despite all of these improvements and developments, one interesting statistic is that, internationally, only 19% of women serve in parliament.

There is an old chestnut thrown out from time to time to the effect that political parties in smoke-filled rooms with men in grey suits have deliberately and conspiratorially gone out of their way to ensure good women are prevented or denied the opportunity to put themselves before the electorate. Let us consider the last elections. Only 11% of women put themselves forward as independent candidates. If there were such a vast cohort of women who sought to get involved in the political process, going independently would not prevent them from doing so. Therein lies a particular difficulty. All surveys and facts suggest that, at least in this country, a significantly higher proportion of women are involved in the voluntary sector than men. Somehow they do not make the jump from being actively involved in the voluntary sector to political participation and electoral politics. Therefore, the question arises whether it is as much about the institutions that run the country and the manner in which they are run which prevent women rather than any conspiracy. This is about reform of the Dáil and making it more user-friendly, especially for women with families who live far from the Parliament and the other elements surrounding the issue.

I was pleased and honoured to co-author a book with Maedhbh McNamara, senior research assistant in the House, in 2001. Among the conclusions we came to was that the most advantageous position was to be a male incumbent and the most disadvantageous position to be was a female challenger. Therein lies a real difficulty facing women in getting into political activity. I hope this legislation will address this but I have serious doubts about it because I believe several things will happen. One is that the quotas will be adhered to, but these women candidates will end up as token candidates. I have no doubt that when these candidates go out on the hustings, the male and female candidates running alongside them will tell the voters not to worry about them because they are only token female candidates. There are many good women in politics in this and the other House and one of them has taken a brave and courageous stand in this regard in that she has challenged the perceived wisdom. That person is Deputy Joanna Tuffy, who served with distinction in this House. She has made a point I have heard repeatedly down through the years within my party. Many of my dear departed sisters since the most recent election are vociferously opposed to quotas on the basis that they believe they were elected on merit rather than because of a quota.

To nail my own colours to the mast, I agree there is a need for some form of quota in the short term. Otherwise, this glass ceiling will not be pierced to an effective degree. While a quota system is not required to work in the long term, it would work in the short term. All I question is the manner in which the Minister is going about it. There are constitutional questions surrounding the issue and the Minister has allayed fears in that regard, but some eminent lawyers are raising a question with regard to a quota somehow interfering in the process. Also, when it comes to how the candidates will be selected, no matter the party, it will come down to whether the person is electable - whether it is the right place and whether the person has a local connection and is capable of being elected. I do not believe any woman would want to be put in a position where she would be seen as a token candidate.

One of the last things I said when wrapping up the debate at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which I attended with all of my colleagues from the committee for equality between men and women, was that the last thing that women would want would be to be seen as coming into any parliament as a result of an artificial quota. They would want to be seen and perceived as taking their place in parliament on merit, because they had put themselves forward before the people and had been elected and therein lies the flaw with quotas. I am not sure the proposed quota system will work. I know the Minister holds out the threat of reducing moneys, but I believe he will return to this House in the lifetime of the Government with a review of this. I ask for nothing more from the Minister now than that he gives some indication of whether he will monitor how this works when put into practice. I am not talking about compliance with the law, but whether it will achieve the objectives purportedly set out in the Bill, namely, to increase significantly the number of women parliamentarians. I fully agree with those who have put forward the view repeatedly in this House and beyond it, that unless women have a critical mass in parliament - of the order of 30% to 35% - they do not have the effective influence on legislation they can have. I welcome the Bill, but what are the Minister's thoughts with regard to monitoring its progress and a review of it at some point?