Nobody “deserves ” to be elected, it has to be earned. The legislation does not say that successful candidates have to be of a particular gender, only that candidates be.

I meant ‘deserve’ as in – ‘The right person for the job’ as oppose to whatever their gender be.

Nobody should be elected to a position without prior education. The idiocy of someone being a minister without the proper knowledge.

Well we have that system now and an accountant is working in Social protection while a teacher is working in finance, hardly sounds right to me.

At Karl. That is perfectly normal in most countries. The problem is that people vote for party labels and elect people that couldn’t give a shite about the country.

Elect honest people, it doesn’t matter what they do. That will take the ending of FG/FF for that to happen.

Look I agree with you that its normal for most countries but it’s not every country and even if it was shouldn’t we want to be an example? You’re attitude is hypocritical you say ‘that is perfectly normal in most countries’ yet go on to say that’s a problem then say it doesn’t matter what they do wheres your head at? as in what do you truly believe? and should we not have people qualified at their job doing the job rather than anyone making up numbers as they go along? Furthermore, i’d add LAB & Greens(tho that job is almost done) to your list.

I agree with you Tim re electing honest people and that qualifications shouldn’t matter. There are plenty civil servants in there to give advice. But if there were more women in An Dáil they’d be well able to know which advisor was telling the truth and who was bull shitting. Did you ever come across a human lie detector like a woman?

How could anybody thumbs down this? Absolutely correct, there are some real inept bozos trotting out the same party lines in Irish politics. I for one would love to see a sort of entry exam, where for example the propsective TD would have to know the current VAT rate before forwarding a proposal to amend it!

They should have it for voters too. Democracy doesn’t work! When 2 idiots can out vote a genius we have a problem

“The big trouble with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to believe there is such a thing as being smart.”

Kurt Vonnegut

I don’t think it would prevent them from running, it would just cut their funding from the State. But then a small party without any seats probably wouldn’t be getting any funding from the State anyway. I do think the legislation could well be challenged constitutionally re the cutting of funding, but it’d be a brave man or party who challenged it! The tag ‘sexist’ would forever follow them.

Thanks for that Ryan. I really was just genuinely curious, just in case anyone thought otherwise.

Add 100+ of the men’s surnames to that list Rommel why doncha?

Figured that was a given. As in “type of people generally attracted”. Just sayin. Doncha agree like? ;)

Surprised you were so careless to omit Thatcher and of course the budding Thatcherite Lucinda. Head down Rommel. Back to work. Must try harder. >:-(

I thought I would limit it to Mary’s in Irish politics lol!

What about your mother or Aunty Farmer Tom? Oh yeah…

Exactly, well said. There’s nothing democratic about this at all and it’s more sexist than forward thinking. If people voted for women candidates then we would have more women in the dail. Simple. As this is not the case, I don’t see how bringing a rule like this in at the wrong side of the issue prompts or solves anything.
As usual, the Govt.’s “fix” is focused at the wrong step in the ladder and does nothing to tackle why more women aren’t running and successfully being elected. Forcing rules that don’t stand up to the reality of male to female ratios does nothing to help this but only effect current parties and their funding.

Explain to me please why access to childcare is exclusively the purvey of women, and not a matter of individual choice?

Indeed Mark. Time for bed I think. ;)

You betcha Karl.

I know Réada, i knew you’d agree with me on this one, actually thought of you when I read that to check for typo’s after posting it ha. If only closed minds came with closed mouths and fingers in this case ha.

Feicit. Didn’t want to but I’ve a death/red thumb wish obviously. You obviously spotted me on these before. Lol. I can’t understand why people have a problem with it. The gender quota police won’t follow us into the booth to check we vote 30% male, 30%female and give us a choice with the remaining 40%. Wtf. Change always has a fight price though. Wth!

Ha. Yes i have saw you here before and you think out your posts well not think with your genitals as a lot of people of both genders tend to do tho one gender does do that more than the other. Exactly people seem to miss that point and if they want mostly men in there so badly then this allows them to get 70% men in so a 7:3 ratio. Secondly, the change in the amount of females in politics is going to come in the future inevitably with or without legislation as women already outnumber men in Ireland and this will likely continue I reckon and as you said above there is no lie detector like a woman so they’ll gain a better track record meaning they’ll get elected or re-elected over the male counterparts. Regardless if they like it or not this change will happen sooner or later with or without this legislation.

oh and 7″3 ratio is for party politics as quota applies to parties and the independent ticket is always there and if we’ve any sense we’ll be like the Isle Of Man in 10-15 years in the way that parties are next to non-existent there, 4 seats total all round there.

I’d still allow 30% quota for men tho Karl. Ha ha. Good to have a bit of balance.

Tbh some of the male comments that come up on these threads re hair colour, height etc just make me laugh. I’d nearly take the vote off them. Nearly… ;) But the safe comments from the ladies really do my head in. You know the ones. Half of them sucking up and the other half unable to challenge themselves or the lads.

But as you say change will happen and this at least is a step in the right direction. My favourite feminist vinb about to start so bye and thanks for putting it up to those lads and giving the red thumbs something to do. It might keep them off their genitals for a bit anyway. Sorry if you’re prudish reader. Lol.

No bother Réada i was watching him myself there ha. Of course balance is required in everything. Yes indeed there can be very immature comments when it comes to things like this, they should be more mature than that considering the passports they hold and one of the nicknames of our great nation. Yes it will and of course it is a step in the right direction change is almost always good thing. No bother ha ye with any luck.