Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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147. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on Ireland’s progress in implementing gender quotas in corporate boardrooms as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. [60494/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I launched Balance for Better Business in 2018 to ensure more women are represented on the boards and senior leadership teams of companies in Ireland. Since its establishment, considerable progress has been made. For all listed companies, as of 1 March 2021, 24% of directors are female, up from 14% in 2018. ISEQ20 companies had, by March 2021, exceeded the 2021 target of 27% by three percentage points - a sizable improvement from 18% in 2018. The gap between Ireland and the EU28 average for women on boards has also continued to narrow, from 8 percentage points in 2018 to 1.2 percentage points in 2020.

Outside of individual organisations and the Balance for Better Business initiative, much work has been done across the Government system to ensure women’s full and equal representation in Irish business leadership. This includes encouraging and enabling female participation including through promoting women and girls in STEM, new modes of working and providing Early Learning and Care that is affordable, accessible, and high quality.

Most recently, Enterprise Ireland launched The Level Project - a suite of actions to influence and support change in Irish enterprise. It aims to raise awareness of the business benefits of gender balance in senior teams and includes an online toolkit to provide companies with a resource that enables them to assess their current situation and put in place a strategy and Action Plan, with supports to implement these.

The Private Members’ Bill introduced by the Deputy, which reflects the recommendation from the Citizens’ Assembly, highlights an important goal - to increase the participation of women at the highest levels of the corporate world. This is something we are both striving to achieve.

The Fourth Annual Report of the Balance for Better Business Review Group will be published next week and will show further progress against the targets that have been set by the Group.