A former Fianna Fáil cabinet minister has expressed disappointment that the number of women appointed to senior ministerial roles has “gone backwards”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week announced the members of his Government – with three women appointed to senior ministerial positions, one fewer than in the last government.
Mary Hanafin was a senior minister in cabinets between 2004 and 2011. “It’s not even that we’ve maintained the status quo but there are now fewer [women] Cabinet Ministers than there were even in the last cabinet.”
Ms Hanafin said she does not think it would be fair to criticise Mr Martin over the situation “when we haven’t got the numbers [of women] elected”. Just seven women were elected among the ranks of Fianna Fáil 48 TDs. Ten women were elected for Fine Gael, out of 38 TDs.
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However, she said there is an “opportunity” to select more women when minister of State roles are allocated on Wednesday and she hopes “that at least two women [from Fianna Fáil] are going to be appointed”.
Mr Martin and the Fine Gael leader, Tánaiste Simon Harris, are under pressure to promote women TDs as junior ministers amid a backlash over the gender balance at Cabinet.
Just one woman from Fianna Fáil, Norma Foley, was appointed as a senior Minister. She has taken up the role of Minister for Children and Disability.
Her party colleague Mary Butler also has a Cabinet seat as Chief Whip, but her ministerial role is a junior one at the Department of Health where Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is now the senior Minister.
Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee has been appointed as Minister for Education while fellow Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton is a “super junior” Minister for disability with a seat at Cabinet.
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The gender breakdown led to criticism from the Opposition and advocacy groups as well as some from within Fianna Fáil.
Cavan-Monaghan TD Niamh Smyth, Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South-Central) and Jennifer Murnane O’Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny) are among Fianna Fáil deputies who have been tipped for promotion to junior ministerial roles.
Ms Hanafin now works as a barrister. While in Government she served in senior roles including minister for education and minister for social and family affairs.
“The problem is not enough women are elected, so it does actually go back to the grassroots level,” she said.
She said a 40 per cent gender quota for candidates in general elections should be brought in for local elections. “If you start at that level you have a better opportunity for women to come forward.”
Ms Hanafin said one problem is that “too many women are added to tickets or selected too late in the game ... We’re now five years out from the next general election. We should be working on our female candidates now.”
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