A Fianna Fáil Senator has strongly criticised her own party for its reluctance to select and support female candidates in elections.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution - which was examining the effect of the electoral system on women's participation in parliament - Lisa McDonald said the first time she experienced discrimination was in the 2007 General Election.
She said she believed Fianna Fáil Headquarters had run her as the token female candidate in the Wexford constituency and accused them of playing a manifest role in denying her the support that had been offered to male candidates.
Senator McDonald said women would be driven to smaller parties, who tended to have a stronger equality ethos.
She said this would give the larger parties a more male-dominated gloss, which would ultimately cause damage.
A number of contributors suggested that a list system should run in tandem with the current PR system in elections which would have a threshold of female representatives.
Senator Ivana Bacik said cultural change was required alongside legislative change. She suggested that recruitment drives and educational programmes would accompany a change in the law that favours a higher proportion of women parliamentarians.
Senator Dan Boyle asked why women still voted for men given that half the population was female and there is generally a respectable number of female candidates to vote for in elections.
Fine Gael TD Jim O'Keefe said in his experience there were difficulties in recruiting female candidates.
