Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 219: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will report on gender balance at each grade in his Department and in agencies that come under the aegis of his Department. [9855/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I presume that the Deputy's question refers to administrative civil servants working in my Department and its Agencies. I have set out, in the table under, this information insofar as it relates to my Department and those Agencies whose staff are staff of the Department. It does not include Bodies which recruit their own staff (Courts Service, Legal Aid Board, Property Registration Authority, Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and the Garda Síochána) and I have requested the information from those Bodies and will provide it to the Deputy when it comes to hand.

Before dealing with my Department's figures, it is worth noting that recruitment of staff to the Civil Service is conducted in the main by the Public Appointments Service, and that staff are recruited in accordance with the equality legislation and assigned to Departments as vacancies occur. Having said that, my Department is acutely aware of the need for greater gender balance and significant progress has been made in recent years. At the key middle management grade of Assistant Principal, there are now almost equal numbers of men and women, significantly exceeding the civil service target for women of 33%. Assistant Principal is a key gateway grade to higher levels in the Civil Service and I am confident that this breakthrough will lead to greater numbers of women progressing to the more senior positions in the coming years.

It is also worth noting that a significant number of the Heads of Agency within my Department's remit are women, viz. the Chief Inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, the National Director of the Irish Youth Justice Service, the Chief Executive of the Private Security Authority, the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Director of the Equality Tribunal, the Director of the National Disability Authority, the Chief Executive of the Property Registration Authority, the State Pathologist, and the Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory.

I will shortly be publishing the National Women's Strategy which will, inter alia, be addressing the issue of Women in Decision Making. It is my view that notwithstanding the significant progress that has been made in recent years, there is more that all of us can do to ensure that women take their rightful place in key positions across the public and private sectors.