Fiach MacConghail (Independent)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 27, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:

"29.—Section 17 of the Act of 1997 is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (4A) (inserted by section 50(c)(iv) of the Act of 2001):

"(4B) All political parties shall endeavour to reach the quota of at least 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women in local elections by 2019.".".

Our final amendment is about quotas in local elections. This is the first time I have gone through a Bill and the Minister and I have been very intimate since Report Stage. I listened to his comments on Second Stage and on Committee Stage regarding the fact that no sanctions that can be imposed regarding local elections. We tabled a series of amendments on Committee Stage about the general election, Seanad elections and local Government elections. The Minister quite rightly pointed out that we could not look at any quota for Seanad elections because they are not within the remit of the Bill as political parties do not necessarily control the quotas or the candidates who go for election to the Seanad.

There was also a very good debate about local elections. I am reminded of what Senator Keane said on Committee Stage. The spirit of the discussion about local elections was that, while we cannot have sanctions, we should encourage, inspire and possibly blackmail, although not through sanctions. We are proposing this amendment because we believe there should be a quota at local elections. The Bill does not require quotas to be applied at local level, as political experience is one of the most important criteria in the selection of candidates by political parties, but women make up only 16% of local councillors. The application of quotas for local elections would seem, in my view, to be an appropriate way to tackle the barriers. In our debate on amendment No.4, the Minister was quite eloquent in saying we should start at a local level.

I am sure the Minister is going to hit me on the head with a technical criticism of the amendment.