Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is how we will get to the goal the Senator wishes to achieve. I wanted to address a somewhat vaguely related area, which is the announcement by the Taoiseach and the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, that 45 senior posts in third level institutions would be earmarked exclusively for women. We should debate the proposal in the House with the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, present. This stems from the controversy about alleged gender discrimination against female candidates for senior positions in my alma materof the National University of Ireland, Galway. I sympathise deeply with the affected people and I agree that the problem should be addressed. This proposal is misguided and it is typical of the highly gaudily-coloured, quick-fix type solutions we get from the Government on matters like this these days.

How can it be a solution to gender discrimination against women to enforce as an absolute policy gender discrimination against men? How do two wrongs make a right? There may be a need for drastic action. We must look at our country in the context of other European countries, as 25% of top posts in Ireland in this area are held by women. The figure is 29% in Norway, 24% in Germany, 23% in France and 21% in Switzerland. If we have a problem, it seems to be a problem shared by other countries. We should look at what other countries are doing to address the matter. I wonder if any country has proposed such a drastic and ill-thought out step. Are we the first to engage in a social experiment like this?

Language is important. I note the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, using words to the effect that they expected the same criticism from the usual suspects. My colleague, Senator Bacik, used similar phraseology in a piece in the Irish Independentyesterday, and she has held the same professorship in Trinity for the past 22 years. She cannot claim to be speaking from personal experience.