The Government is not giving adequate financial support towards rape crisis and domestic violence services, Minister of State for Equality Frank Fahey said.
Speaking at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway on the eve of today's International Women's Day, Mr Fahey said the work being carried out by such services was both "cost effective and critically important".
Discrimination against Traveller women and countering negative attitudes towards the Travelling community were also a priority for him within the Department of Justice, he said.
He "would accept the amount of funding for rape crisis and domestic violence services" was not adequate and he had recently arranged a delegation to meet Minister for Finance Brian Cowen on the issue.
He acknowledged that the Government was making "slow progress" on ensuring adequate female representation on State boards.
Five of 15 Government departments had met their target, he said, and a review of appointments involving nominations by outside bodies was taking place. He was confident this would help to transform the ratio of women on State boards.
A reminder that the "gender debate is not over" was issued to Mr Fahey by Noirín Clancy of the Women's Human Rights Alliance, who acknowledged that certain progress had been made on equality issues and legislation.
However, she questioned the political will to increase female participation in decision-making bodies, and pointed to the reduced level of State funding for women's-only groups which should be able to influence policy debate.
Positive measures were still required, Ms Clancy said, and there was widespread concern within non-governmental organisations over the content of the Government's national women's strategy.
The strategy, which aims to translate agreements made 10 years ago at the UN's fourth world conference on women in Beijing, China, into national policy, should incorporate equality within a human rights framework, Ms Clancy said.
Mr Fahey said he would be happy to meet representatives of the alliance to ensure key issues were incorporated in the strategy. It would be "inspired by the spirit of Beijing" and would hopefully become the "touchstone for progress on equality for women in Ireland", Mr Fahey said in his address to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women on behalf of the Government in New York last week.
International women's groups have welcomed a decision by the US government to withdraw a controversial proposed amendment to the draft declaration on the Beijing +10 proceedings taking place in New York.
The amendment sought to exclude international human rights and the right to abortion from the draft declaration, which is being prepared in New York, a decade after the UN's fourth world conference on women.
