Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on progress towards gender equality in politics in Ireland; and the steps being taken to achieve a new normal in which more women political leaders have an active and equal role in decision-making and building forward. [27634/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Gender provisions for Dáil elections were first introduced at the 2016  Dáil election. These provisions are set out in the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012 and link the State funding of political parties in the electoral Acts to the achievement of a gender balance in candidate selection at Dáil general elections.  To receive full State funding under the electoral Acts, a qualified political party must have at least 30% women candidates and at least 30% men candidates at the election. This will rise to 40% in 2023.

The impact of the gender provisions at the 2016 general election was that 163 women contested the election, representing 30% of the 551 candidates.  This was a significant increase over the 2011 general election, where only 15% of the candidates were women.  In 2016, 35 women were elected to Dáil Éireann.  This represents 22% of the total membership, compared with 15% in 2011.  At the 2020 general election 162 women contested the election, representing 31% of the 531 candidates.  This represents a slight increase in percentage terms (1%) over the 2016 general election.  36 women were elected to Dáil Éireann in 2020 representing 23% of the total membership, again representing a 1% increase over the 2016 general election.

Funding received by qualified parties under the Electoral Acts can be used for the promotion of participation by women and young persons in political activity.  

My Department, in recognition of the need to promote gender equality in local government, also introduced a funding scheme in March 2019 to incentivise political parties to increase the number of women candidates in the 2019 local elections. The scheme was open to all political parties on the Register of Political Parties on an opt-in basis.  The funding provided was an annual grant to political parties, based on their performance in fielding women candidates in the 2019 local elections.  This funding was to be used by the parties specifically for the purposes of promoting gender balance and diversity among the party’s candidates and elected representatives. Examples of such activities could include the training of women candidates and the recruitment of diversity officers whose role would be to build the diversity of party membership and future local election candidates.

Since the introduction of the scheme in 2019, nine political parties have applied for funding. Following engagement with a number of political parties and key stakeholders, the scheme has been reviewed and now includes suggested activities and measurables.  This new scheme is open to all registered political parties and in the interests of inclusivity, to official representative groups of Independents.  The deadline for receipt of applications under the new scheme is 25 June 2021

My Department also supports organisations such as the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Women for Election and Longford Women’s Link.  These organisations work with women in a non-partisan way, providing key capacity building services for all women interested in local government.  My Department also continues to support local authorities in their endeavours to encourage the participation of women and wider diversity in local government.  In 2019 and 2020, funding was provided to local authority initiatives for projects which included building general awareness of local government and participation in local decision-making structures, particularly among women, minority and diverse communities.

In May 2021, the Government approved a significant reform of the remuneration of local authority elected members.  It also noted the work of local government stakeholders in agreeing an Action Plan to implement a range of non-pay related reforms, including issues such as maternity leave, administrative supports and professional development for councillors. These reforms, taken together with the pay reforms approved, will make the role of councillor more sustainable and manageable, facilitating a cohort of members representative and fully reflective of the diverse communities where they are elected.