Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said progress is being made to ensure gender balance with appointments to State boards.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister Donohoe said that around half of State boards are now meeting their targets, with 40% of the people on the boards being women.
"Encouragingly if I look at 2017, just over 50% of all the new appointments were women," he said.
Looking ahead, the minister said he hoped that within 18 to 24 months there will be an overall gender balance.
"If I look at the progress we are making at the moment I would expect that within the next 18-24 months we should meet that target. I want to meet that target and I’ve emphasised that on a number of occasions," he said.
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He said that the changes to how appointments are being made over the last couple of years should be welcomed and he believes enough has been done to promote women in Fine Gael, adding that it was the first party to introduce gender quotas.
Minister Donohoe also addressed the recent allegations of sexism and bullying made by Senator Catherine Noone and said he understands it has been dealt with by the secretary general of his party.
He said he believes Senator Noone is satisfied with how the matter has been handled. He added that there is no place for anyone to be feeling that "those kind of behaviours have been inflicted on them."
When asked about the next budget, Mr Donohoe did not indicate whether he would cut income tax, but said he would take great care in the process.
He said he thinks the economy will grow by 3% over the coming years.
