http://www.thejournal.ie/parties-to-be-told-run-more-women-or-lose-state-funding-144871-May2011/?voted=1
IRELAND'S POLITICAL PARTIES could soon see their State funding cut by up to 50 per cent if they do not provide a certain proportion of female candidates at future elections.
Environment minister Phil Hogan has confirmed he will soon bring legislation to cabinet that will force parties to ensure that at least 30 per cent of their candidate base are female – or see their central funding, a major source of income, depleted.
The minister told the Irish Times that the proposal was "a groundbreaking political opportunity for the country in terms of increasing particularly the participation rate of women in Irish politics".
"This is the carrot and the big stick approach. If you don't deliver you'll get your funding cut, and it's quite a serious penalty to be in breach of this particular proposal," he told Mary Minihan.
The confirmation follows reports to a similar extent from the Sunday Independent last week.
The news also comes as the Standards in Public Office Commission confirmed that the five largest political parties received a total of almost €13.5m in state funding in 2010 through party payments and Party Leaders' Allowances.
Fine Gael received the highest allocation under the Party Leaders' Allowance – taking up almost €3m of the €8m paid through those means – while Fianna Fáil, as the largest Oireachtas party at the time, took €2.3m of the €5.4m paid in party funding.
The total Party Leaders Allowance also includes payments to independent TDs and Senators in lieu of the support they would ordinarily receive from parties.
Independent TDs earn €41,152 in allowances per year, while independent Senators are paid €23,383 per annum. Last year independent parliamentarians receive €304,905 last year – a sum that will be dwarfed in 2011 given the larger numbers of independent TDs.
Very bad idea IMO, seriously hope this is not implemented. It is sexist, and promotes quantity over quality. Women need to show a greater interest at grass roots levels in putting themselves forward. Outside of political parties, highly interested and qualified women should put themselves forward as independents or make themselves available to political parties.
IRELAND'S POLITICAL PARTIES could soon see their State funding cut by up to 50 per cent if they do not provide a certain proportion of female candidates at future elections.
Environment minister Phil Hogan has confirmed he will soon bring legislation to cabinet that will force parties to ensure that at least 30 per cent of their candidate base are female – or see their central funding, a major source of income, depleted.
The minister told the Irish Times that the proposal was "a groundbreaking political opportunity for the country in terms of increasing particularly the participation rate of women in Irish politics".
"This is the carrot and the big stick approach. If you don't deliver you'll get your funding cut, and it's quite a serious penalty to be in breach of this particular proposal," he told Mary Minihan.
The confirmation follows reports to a similar extent from the Sunday Independent last week.
The news also comes as the Standards in Public Office Commission confirmed that the five largest political parties received a total of almost €13.5m in state funding in 2010 through party payments and Party Leaders' Allowances.
Fine Gael received the highest allocation under the Party Leaders' Allowance – taking up almost €3m of the €8m paid through those means – while Fianna Fáil, as the largest Oireachtas party at the time, took €2.3m of the €5.4m paid in party funding.
The total Party Leaders Allowance also includes payments to independent TDs and Senators in lieu of the support they would ordinarily receive from parties.
Independent TDs earn €41,152 in allowances per year, while independent Senators are paid €23,383 per annum. Last year independent parliamentarians receive €304,905 last year – a sum that will be dwarfed in 2011 given the larger numbers of independent TDs.
Very bad idea IMO, seriously hope this is not implemented. It is sexist, and promotes quantity over quality. Women need to show a greater interest at grass roots levels in putting themselves forward. Outside of political parties, highly interested and qualified women should put themselves forward as independents or make themselves available to political parties.