Fine Gael proposal to impose quotas of female candidates defeated.

[Yorrick]

Who will make the dinner and do the housework if all the women get involved in politics ?

Not the men. The women will hire other women that they in turn can exploit.
How many of Blairs Babes were caught out with Au Pairs without visas etc.

 

[Complainer]

Being a TD must be one of the most family friendly jobs in Ireland. Short working week, short days, long holidays etc etc. And not even required to attend the Dail except for important votes. Would be difficult to make it more accommodating.

Any TD who tried this won't get re-elected. The average TD will find themselves attending 1 or 2 residents/campaign meetings a week, maybe 1 or 2 meetings of their own party branches, and will be running clinics for constituents as well.

I don't believe that there is any such thing as "positive discrimination"

Absolutely. This kind of thinking leads to inequality, not equality.

There is a well-established approach in equality circles of 'positive action'. For example, you may need to provide an sign-language interpreter for a deaf person attending an event. This is not 'equality', but is providing equal access. You may need to provide extra language teachers for kids for whom English is not their first language at home, to ensure that they catch up on their classmates. This is not 'equality', but is providing equal access.

Similarly, there are barriers for many people in participating in politics. Some of these barriers can be addressed by providing extra supports, and some will need infrastructural changes.

It is disappointing that for many people, 'equality' is narrowed down to gender equality, and gender equality is narrowed down to wimmin's issues. I don't believe that quotas are the answer to this problem.

 

[Purple]

I agree 100% with Complainer.

 

[Latrade]

I agree with you but your statement "so there isn't even the opportunity to vote for the right person in the first place" is technically incorrect.

yes, technically incorrect on the basis of an unreasonable and impracticable assumption that they could go independent. Thanks for pointing that out.