Call for more women to enter politics
EIGHT FEMALE COUNCILLORS
A PRESSURE group for the rights of women has called for a quota system to bring more women into politics at local level after the local elections saw a slide in the number of women councillors nationwide. A survey by the National Women's Council (NWC) has found that some female candidates were bullied or intimidated from within political parties and received a generally negative attitude from the public. The NWC is calling for new laws to compel parties to put forward an equal number of male and female candidates for the next General Election. Only 16% of people elected in June were women, down from 19% in the 2004 local elections. But Fingal County Council stands out from the crowd with a much healthier representation of women than the national average.
After the June elections, one third of the candidates returned to the council were women.
Fingal has eight women councillors representing all parts of the political spectrum but it is significant to note that all the elected women on Fingal County Council this time around were already sitting councillors. That means that no new women were elected to the Fingal council chamber and one left the political stage, in the shape of former councillor, Brenda Clifford (FF).
Fine Gael has by far the largest representation of women on the council with three women among its five councillors. They are Cllr Anne Devitt, Cllr Joan Maher and Cllr Eithne Loftus.
Next is the Socialist Party which women in two of its three seats on the council and a prominent national political figure in Cllr Clare Daly who is joined by Cllr Ruth Coppinger on the party's council benches. Labour and Fianna Fáil have one lady councillor each in Peggy Hamill (Lab), and Mags Murray (FF), while the final female member of the council is non-party councillor, May McKeon.
- John MANNING
