Over 50 councillors from local authorities across the country have been elected to Dáil Eireann.
See Her Elected, a programme aimed at getting more women from rural Ireland into politics, said 52 councillors will be vacating seats across the country.
It is reiterating its call on political parties to use the opportunity to increase female representation in local councils through the co-option process.
"See Her Elected has tracked the number of county councillors elected to Dáil Éireann and our data shows that a total of 52 council seats throughout the country will be vacated as a result of this General Election," said Dr Michelle Maher, Programme Manager of See Her Elected.
"A breakdown of those figures shows that 12 Fianna Fáil councillors have been elected to the Dáil, 14 Fine Gael councillors, nine Sinn Féin, five Labour and five Social Democrats," she said.
"The two parties with the lowest number of female councillors nationwide before the election were Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. These were also the two parties with the lowest number of female local election candidates," she added.
"Only 21% of Fianna Fáil's councillors are women and 27% of Fine Gael’s councillors are women," she said.
"We are especially calling on these two parties to ensure gender equity is to the fore in their co-option process so that women are co-opted into their newly vacated council seats.
"Political parties talk a good talk about supporting women in politics, but now is the time to walk the walk," she said.
Dr Maher said that while the percentage number of female TDs has not increased by any significant margin, she pointed to the fact that a record number of women had run in this year’s local and general elections.
"While the percentage number of female TDs is 25% after this General Election it is heartening to see that a record number of women (246) ran in the General Election which was a 52% increase on the numbers in the last General Election in 2020.
"Women accounted for 36% of candidates in this General Election."
See her Elected said this was the first General Election where the 40% quota rule applied, and it did not translate into a significant increase in the number of female TDs elected.
"I think we need to see a correct and honest application of this quota rule as some of the larger political parties added women to tickets as mere 'token candidates’ or as sweepers for the preferred male candidates," said Dr Maher.
"Many women were added to tickets too late in the day which gave them no real chance to work on their profile or campaign.
"Parties need to row in behind their female candidates if they want them to have a real chance of getting elected," said Dr Maher.
