Some 44 women are expected to enter the new Dáil, representing 25 per cent of all 174 new TDs elected and an increase of seven since the last general election.
Representation of women in the Dáil is “going in the right direction but it is far too slow”, says Women for Election, a campaign group to promote the participation of women in politics.
Brian Sheehan, chief executive of Women for Election, said that overall it was just a 2 percentage point increase – up from 23 per cent – but he described the election as “historic” because “more women than ever before will walk through the gates of Leinster House, and that is something to be celebrated”.
Some 50 councillors are expected to be elected to the Dáil, of whom 12 are women.
“Political parties could use the opportunity to replace those councillors with women” to “build a pipeline where women can get known across the constituency and come back and challenge for seats at general election name”, Mr Sheehan said.
The National Women’s Council (NWC) called for the incoming government to introduce a 40 per cent gender quota for local elections, matching the Dáil gender quota provisions.
NWC director Orla O’Connor said there was “still no breakthrough for women” and that the two percentage point increase in the number of female TDs was only a marginal improvement.
Forty two women were elected by Monday afternoon but two more are expected to win seats in Cavan-Monaghan. Seven women are retiring and seven women are likely to lose their seats, with 21 new female TDs in the Oireachtas.
Sinn Féin has the highest number of female TDs, currently at 14, but this expected to increase further when all seats are filled.
Fine Gael is next with nine women, while Fianna Fáil and Independents are tied with five each, followed by four for the Social Democrats, two for Labour and one for Solidarity-People Before Profit TD.
Just four constituencies have more women than men: Galway West (three out of five), Dublin South Central (three out of four); Dublin Fingal West (two out of three) and Carlow-Kilkenny (three of five).
Only four women have been elected in all of Munster, including Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns in Cork South West, Sinn Féin’s Donna McGettigan in Clare, Fianna Fáil Minister for Education Norma Foley in Kerry and her party colleague Minister of State Mary Butler in Waterford.
NWC figures show that eight women topped the poll, with Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh and Mairéad Farrell making history as the first women to top the poll in Mayo and Galway West respectively.
The number of constituencies with no female TDs fell by one to 14 based on projections. These are Donegal, Galway East, Laois, Tipperary North, Tipperary South, Limerick City, Limerick County, Cork North West, Cork South Central, Cork North Central, Cork East, Wicklow-Wexford, Dublin North West and Dublin South West.
Ms O’Connor said the gender quota was “successful in ensuring a record number of women candidates”, but in isolation it would not be enough to achieve equal representations.
“There is evidence that many women were added late to the ticket to make up the gender quota,” she said.
Mr Sheehan said that 246 women ran – 36 per cent of all candidates – compared with 162 (31 per cent) in 2020.
“The gender quota for political parties introduced to ensure parties select more women candidates has wedged the door open, but its potential has not yet been fully realised,” he said.
“Three women led their parties in this election and across the country many women have topped or come near the top of the poll in their constituencies. From our estimates, women candidates have secured almost 32 per cent of first-preferences votes, equivalent to 70 quotas.”
