Irish Government criticised for inaction by UN committee

'Women could be more politically aggressive than they had been been" and they "had been let down the most by other women" according to one member of the Irish Governments delegation in New York on 13 July. The Irish political system was one of the most difficult in Europe for women to enter into because of the party structure and voting system, according to Frank Fahey, Minister with responsibility for equality. He acknowledged the constitution was male-orientated saying it had been written in the early 1930s and needed to be changed. The Government has also failed to keep information on the experiences of women trafficked for prostitution into this country, he said. Frank Fahey pointed out some positive developments, that female employment had increased to 57 per cent and the excellent performance of girls in the Irish education system saying that women constituted 52.5 per cent of all entrants to third level courts.

The minister was responding to criticisms leveled at the Irish government by a UN Committee on 13 July, which was examining its record on promoting womens human rights and equality. The government delegation was in New York as part of their obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which it signed in 1985. Regular reports are made about Irelands progress to this CEDAW committee but this was the first time it was up in front of the 23 member committee for oral hearing since 1999.

"Many members of the committee certainly voiced a frustration with Ireland. They mentioned our economic performance implying that we now have the resources so there is no excuses," said Noirín Clancy, one of the eight women from organisations in Ireland that travelled over to observe the Irish delegation in action and meet with the UN Committee. "Many questions were evaded and many of the UN committee members were very critical of the poor progress on the under-representation of women in politics. The governments response was to blame the women."

When committee criticised the government on their lack of resources to frontline services to help combat violence against women, Frank Fahey conceded that the government has not responded adequately to this issue. He said more action and resources were needed to combat violence against women, as well as to shorten court waiting times, improve women's access to shelters and prove more statistics an trafficking.

The Committee in its conclusions praised the national bodies that were set up by the government to promote gender equality but said it needed to take further steps to protect and empower its more vulnerable groups, including migrants, Travellers and disabled women and to increase women's participation in public life.

The UN committee will complete its deliberations and issue a series of recommendations for the government to undertake.

Hilary Curley