James McDaid
Question:13 Dr. McDaid asked the Minister for Finance the plans, if any, he has to address the serious gender imbalance in the higher Civil Service. [12416/97]
Written Answers. - Civil Service Gender Balance.
The Government is committed to a policy of equality of opportunity for all Civil Service staff. In this context, I am, naturally, anxious to see better gender balance at senior levels in the Civil Service and every effort is and has been made to ensure that there are no barriers, hidden or otherwise, preventing women from progressing to the highest positions. I believe that significant progress has been made in this direction. A very welcome development has been the appointment in 1995 of the first woman secretary to a Department since 1959. In addition, three women were appointed to assistant secretary level positions in 1995, two in 1996 and four in 1997 to date, bringing to 19 the number of women at and above assistant secretary level, compared with seven years ago.
While the Civil Service has been to the forefront among Irish employers in relation to gender equality matters, with a stated policy and guidelines in place since 1986, the Human Resource Management Implementation Group, established under "Delivering Better Government", has been asked specifially to address the issue of equality of opportunity for men and women in the Civil Service in the context of their development of the recommendations made in "Delivering Better Government". A committee representing various viewpoints has been established by the Human Resource Management Implementation Group to examine and make recommendations in relation to gender issues in the Civil Service.