Vol. 398 No. 5
1 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach the total number of persons appointed to the boards of State-sponsored bodies or other State bodies since March 1987; the number of such persons who were women; the progress which has been made in meeting his objective of increasing the number of women on such boards; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Since March 1987, 1,476 persons have been appointed to State boards. Of these appointees, 234, or 16 per cent are women. This compares with the situation in March 1987, when women constituted less than 11 per cent of the membership of State boards. This increase reflects the Government's continuing policy of appointing suitably-qualified women to State boards.
I apologise for the absence of Deputy De Rossa due to illness. May I ask the Taoiseach in respect of the figures whether, in the past six months there has been any appreciable increase in the rate of appointments of women to boards of State companies? Would he accept that the level of appointments is still unsatisfactory and way below the level that should be achieved by Government in this area?
I could not give that exact percentage but I would say the figure is about the same. I accept that the whole situation is still very unsatisfactory. All I can do is undertake to keep on trying. I have circulated all Ministers with a register of suitable candidates for appointment. Perhaps the next major improvement could arise from the new Commission on the Status of Women. They may be able to offer us some guidelines or ways in which we could improve the situation.
I thank the Taoiseach for his undertakings in this regard. Previously when he answered similar questions he identified the difficulty of finding suitable women candidates for these positions as one of the limiting factors. Has he made any wider search or consulted any of the organisations or, indeed, many of the people who offered in the House, on the day, to advise him? Has he been able to identify any additional sources or potential candidates for the positions required to be filled?
I have spoken to some people in the House about it and sought their assistance and guidance. They have generously offered to be of help from time to time as appropriate. In studying the matter I find it is not so much a question of there not being a number of suitable women available but that when the time comes to make a particular appointment, it is often difficult to find somebody in that particular area or even sector who is appropriate for appointment to the board concerned. That is not to say that there may not be a considerable pool of women of great ability and talent available in a general way but I find that when one comes to make a particular appointment to a particular board at a particular time there are restrictions and limitations. We just have to keep on trying.
Let us come to deal with questions nominated for priority.
I will be brief. Is the Taoiseach aware that because of the excellent work done by Eileen Ryan of RTE we now have a very comprehensive directory of women under different headings who are highly professional and highly specialised. I understand that the Department of the Taoiseach have now got a copy of the document. I should like to put it to the Taoiseach, because I know he has a commitment in this area, that if not a quote, a certain affirmative action be, written in, not only with regard to Ministers but to nominating bodies, for example, FÁS where there are very few women in an area of tremendous importance to women? Could the Government adopt a policy of insisting that every nominating body include women when they are nominating people for membership of State boards?
All we can do is encourage them but the situation is improving in that regard. The right of bodies to nominate is a major inhibiting factor. To that extent we are in the hands of some of these bodies from time to time but we can work in that area, too.
On a point of order, one of my priority questions was disallowed but I was informed only in this morning's post of that fact which gave me no time to resubmit another question. This is denying the rights of people who have the right to put down priority questions, if they are informed only on the day of the question and not before the closing date for priority questions. The question I had put down was about Namibia and was different from the question which was ruled out. It was specifically asking to extend our bilateral aid to Namibia. The other question which was ruled out had to do with diplomatic relations and project aid.
This is the first I have heard of the matter Deputy. I shall certainly look into it and see what I can do about it.
With respect I got the letter from you, a Cheann Comhairle.
I thought the Deputy said she heard nothing about it at all.
I got a letter from you this morning disallowing my question which gave me no time to make full use of our priority questions.
I shall look into that aspect of the matter.
