Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

Those of us who have questions, queries and concerns about the Bill are coming from a genuine perspective. We also want to see many more women involved in the political process, but it is not as simple as introducing legislation.

Wearing his previous hat as a Fine Gael organisational person of renown, the Minister successfully suggested during the last local elections that Fine Gael would run at least one female candidate in each urban council area. That did not require legislation, penalties or awards. It was simply decided and done by the political party and it worked very well. I would like to see it happen in the next set of local elections also. It was a practical, common-sense measure that worked. No one was accused of being a token candidate. Many of the additional female candidates won seats and many of them will seek higher office in time.

We have to remain open-minded on the Bill. I am certainly happy with the idea that there be a sunset clause in order that quotas would come to an end after a couple of elections, but it goes back to the question of culture. That is the debate that needs to take place. The mechanism would be in place for Seanad elections also, if we really believed in it. If we can impose regulations and rules on political parties for who they can run in elections, the same regulations and rules could apply to nominating bodies. No one in the country is outside the law. Between 30% and 40% of candidates in Seanad elections are selected by Oireachtas parties. Therefore, such a provision could be put in place. If we want to apply this provision to Seanad elections, we can. We will certainly have to apply it to local elections, but in a voluntary fashion, as was done very successfully without huge fanfare by Fine Gael during the last town council elections.

I know that Senator David Norris has raised the question of independence from the perspective of the allocation of funding. That is a matter for another day, although we addressed part of it in considering an earlier part of the Bill. It is certainly worth considering why so few women stand as independent candidates. Every independent candidate faces much greater difficulty in being elected than a member of a political party, yet for every three or four females who face the electorate as independent candidates, there are ten or 20 males. That shows it is not simply a question of-----