asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development why the Women's Representative Committee was abolished and if he would consider establishing a national advisory body for women's affairs.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Women's Representative Committee.
8.
The decision not to renew the term of office of the Women's Representative Committee arose from the significant duplication of roles between the committee and the Council for the Status of Women, the objectives of both of which included, inter alia, the preparation of submissions pressing for the implementation of the recommendations of the Report of the Commission on the Status of Women. Furthermore, there was also a duplication of roles with the Employment Equality Agency, which was set up in October 1977. This body subsumed a substantial proportion of the work which, up to then, had been entrusted to the Women's Representative Committee.
The question of establishing a national advisory body for women's affairs is a possibility which will be kept in mind, pending some experience of the new situation following the lapse of the committee.