Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I heard Senator Zappone on "Morning Ireland" today talking about the Seanad being used more to debate EU legislation. However, the following issue cannot wait for the reform of or abolition of the Seanad, if the people so decide. EU Commissioner Reding has proposed legislation which is going through. On 5 March last, Ms Reding announced the launch of a three-month public consultation process on the legislation asking what type of measures the EU should take to get more women into the boardrooms of companies in the EU and said the Commission would decide on further action.

One of the questions asked in that consultation process was whether 20%, 30%, 40% or 60% should be defined for the under-represented sex. We all know what the under-represented sex is; it is the female species. The proposed EU legislation is aimed at what EU officials have described as a severe gender imbalance across the 27 member states with 13.7% representation.

The proposal from the EU will not apply to all companies because small companies will ask how can they be expected to comply. It applies to larger companies with perhaps more than 200 employees or a turnover of ¤50 million. I do not want to frighten all the men sitting on the boards of small companies, or all the men sitting on boards of most companies in Ireland and the EU, that this will apply to all companies. My understanding is that it will not.

When I started out in politics, I was fiercely opposed to quotas for anything, whether gender or otherwise.

I have taken a full whirl on this, as it were, because the proof is in the pudding and all statistics show that only quotas work. The commissioner has stated that she does not like quotas, but she likes what quotas do. One year ago, the commissioner invited voluntary participation in this and only 24 companies across the EU took up the voluntary proposal. I do not know how many of them are Irish. The commissioner said we can count on her regulatory creativity so rather than be caught on the hop because it is coming down the track, I want a debate in this House on the proposal. The decision will be taken by qualified majority vote and will not be a blocking vote. I seek a debate on this serious issue. A study by the international law firm Eversheds has shown that share prices go up when women are on boards. I met a man from Iceland yesterday who told me the only bank that did not fail in Iceland was one headed by a woman. I want a debate on this issue sooner rather than later.