Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Thank you for telling me that. I will not say much about it, other than to say that I will not push it to a vote, but I will reserve the right to propose it on Report Stage.

In response to the planned obsolescence that seems to be desired by the proponents of this legislation and by the Minister, and since there is such expressed embarrassment about the desirability and need for quotas per se, I propose a sunset clause whereby the relevant sections shall cease to be in operation after the polling day of the next general election held after the passing of this Act, unless we have a resolution by each House of the Oireachtas. In other words, we should only permit the continuance of this arrangement if the Houses of the Oireachtas were willing to so decide. I do not see why this should not find favour with the Minister because, as I stated, there is a reluctance, discomfort and a certain disquiet about this proposal. Why else would Members propose that it be written out of legislation in the future? At least, let us reflect this. I am opposed to gender quotas per se. If I am wrong on this or do not succeed in persuading the Minister, will he at least consider making the continuation of these arrangements subject to the need for ongoing resolutions by the Houses? I hope we will be speaking about "Houses", but sin scéal eile go lá eile.

On the last occasion it was pointed out to me helpfully by a colleague that there might have been an unintended element of racism in something I had said when I had spoken about why we should not focus our energies on securing a greater level of representation among the new Irish in Irish politics. While the under-representation of women is regrettable and something I would like to see change, there is high quality representation by women of their views that might be considered distinctive but also in terms of their equal participation in politics. Much has already been secured by those women involved in politics. What is much more noticeable and what is not being addressed is how "white" and predominantly English-speaking these Houses are. It is not their maleness that is the most obvious aspect for the person looking in from outside. Of course, I accept there may be legal issues, where persons do not enjoy citizenship, in their not being in a position to run. They might be able to vote in local elections but not in Dáil elections. This is a much more serious issue.

The reason I mentioned taxi drivers was not in any way to suggest persons from certain strata of our society were exclusively in particular jobs. I am quite aware that there are persons in every occupation and at every level from the category that we have designated as the new Irish, particularly from Africa and eastern Europe, but the point I am really trying to make is that in our society there are powerless ordinary persons who are very much in evidence on the streets and who do not seem to engage the minds of the great and the good in terms of the need to actively introduce them to politics and include them in political representation in these Houses. I wanted to deal with any unintended implication of what I had said, that I was confining members of certain national groups to particular roles or tasks within society. I ask the Minister to consider the issue and state, if he is in a position to do so today, what the Government can offer on the issue of greater representation in politics of immigrant communities and the new Irish. That is much more necessary than what is being proposed vis-À-vis gender quotas.