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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Mar 1997

Vol. 476 No. 3

Written Answers. - Departmental Policies.

Helen Keogh

Question:

41 Ms Keogh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the nominating bodies to each board under the aegis of his Department; the number of seats to which each of these bodies nominate; and the guidelines or instructions given to nominating bodies to assist in achieving gender balance in line with Government policy. [6972/97]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the nominating authority to the following boards and committees: Agency for Personal Service Overseas, Cultural Relations Committee, Irish Aid Advisory Committee and National Committee for Development Education.

All appointments to these boards-committees are made in accordance with Government policy. The function of the Refugee Agency, which also comes under the aegis of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, is to co-ordinate arrangements for the admission, reception and resettlement of refugees admitted to Ireland under Government decisions. The Refugee Agency is managed by a board comprising of an independent chairperson and representatives nominated by those Departments most involved with refugee issues. The relevant Departments are Foreign Affairs, Education, Enterprise and Employment, Environment, Health, Justice and Social Welfare. Appointments to the board of the Refugee Agency by all these Departments are subject to Government policy.
In addition, the Refugee Agency has seven observers on its board. Three were appointed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the other four were drawn from the following nominating bodies: United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Episcopal Commission for Emigrants, The Irish Refugee Council and The Irish Red Cross.
While no formal guidelines have been issued to these nominating bodies in regard to the gender balance requirements for this board, the present composition of the board complies with Government policy.
The only body under the aegis of the office of the Tánaiste is the National Economic and Social Forum. The following list sets out the bodies who are entitled to nominate members to the forum and the number of seats available for nomination. The nomination process is divided into three strands, namely, the Oireachtas, the Social Partners and the Third Strand. The forum represents the broader sectoral interests in which the organisations are involved rather than the specific interests of individual organisations.

The Oireachtas

Fianna Fáil

6 Nominees

Fine Gael

4 nominees

Labour

2 nominees

Progressive Democrats

1 nominee

Democratic Left/Green

1 nominee

Independent Senators

1 nominee

The Social Partners

Trade Unions

5 nominees

Employer-Business interests

5 nominees

Agricultural Organisation

5 nominees

Third Strand

Women's Organisations

3 nominees

Unemployed

3 nominees

Disadvantaged

3 nominees

Youth

1 nominee

The Elderly

1 nominee

People with a Diability

1 nominee

Environment interests

1 nominee

Nominating Bodies for the Three Strands First Strand
The Oireachtas political parties as outlined above.
Second Strand — The Social Partners
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, the Irish Co-operative Society, Macra na Feirme and the Irish Country Women's Association.
Third Strand
The Council for the Status of Women, ICTU centres for the Unemployed, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, the National Youth Council of Ireland, The National Council for the Elderly, the Disability Federation of Ireland and An Taisce.
In addition, the disadvantaged are represented through a process facilitated by the Combat Poverty Agency. The process involved seven networks, namely, the Irish Rural Link, National Campaign for the Homeless, European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland, Community Development Projects, Irish Travellers Movement, Community Workers Co-operative and women's networks supported by the Combat Poverty Agency. Two independent experts are nominated by me as Tánaiste.
When I was appointing members of the National Economic and Social Forum I asked all nominating bodies to ensure that there was an appropriate gender balance in their nominations. I am glad to be able to inform the House that 51 per cent of the members of the NESF are women.

Helen Keogh

Question:

42 Ms Keogh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the mechanisms used by his Department to ensure that policies, programmes and decisions are proofed to assess their impact on women; the training available to those officials responsible for gender proofing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7004/97]

Helen Keogh

Question:

43 Ms Keogh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the initiatives, if any, taken by his Department in 1995 and 1996 which were targeted at women; the budget allocated to each initiative; the actual amount spent on each; the budget for his Department in each of the years 1995 and 1996; and the amount of that budget exclusive of direct staffing and overhead costs. [7020/97]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the office of the Tánaiste are committed to a policy of equal opportunity and fully endorse and implement the guidelines for equality of opportunity drawn up for the Civil Service. The principles and practices of equality of opportunity are applied in relation to recruitment, assignment, promotion, training and all other conditions of service for officers in both organisations.

It is also a fundamental principle of the Irish aid programme that sustainable development is only possible with the active involvement and participation of both women and men on a basis of full equality. Accordingly, gender issues are systemically included in all stages of aid projects including project identification, appraisal, implementation, review and evaluation.
Even through there are no specific budgets allocated for women's affairs in the Votes for the Department of Foreign Affairs or the office of the Tánaiste, all decisions made or policies-programmes drawn up and implemented by both organisations take appropriate account of gender considerations.
It is important to note that the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women contained two recommendations of relevance to the Department of Foreign Affairs. These refer to the gender balance of nominations to State boards and the use of non-sexist application forms and correspondence. Nominations made by me to State boards under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the office of the Tánaiste take into account the commission's recommendations and the relevant Government decisions on gender balance.
As regards the use of non-sexist forms, the various forms in use in the Department of Foreign Affairs were already in line with the commission's recommendation. It has been standard procedure in this Department to follow non-sexist practices in correspondence since the publication in 1985 of the Government's White Paper on the Public Service entitled "Serving the Country Better". This is in keeping with recent Government decisions on the use of gender neutral language in Bills and Statutory Instruments.
It should also be noted that while the office of the Tánaiste has had no initiatives targeted solely and specifically at women, in developing new initiatives the office takes account of the roleimpact on women — for example in establishing the National Economic and Social Forum which comes under the aegis of the office, not alone are women's groups directly represented but women make up 51 per cent of members.
In addition, the Minister of State at the office of the Tánaiste, Deputy Fitzgerald, is currently chairing a working group on violence against women and it is hoped that the report of the group will be submitted to Government within the next month. The costs associated with the working group are being met from within the office's resources.
As no staff are specifically involved in gender proofing, there is no formal training provided in this area. However, the Department and office provide funds to a number of officers who are studying personnel management courses which include gender and equality issues.
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