Longford criticised for 'failing' to elect a single female municipal district chair
A total of 10 counties failed to select a single female MD chair and those included Longford, Westmeath, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Donegal, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick and Monaghan.
See Her Elected or SHE supports women in rural Ireland to be candidates in local elections.
They said county Longford and nine other counties failed to elect a woman as chairperson of a municipal district recently.
See Her Elected say the recent appointment of Municipal District (MD) and Municipal Borough District Chairpersons across Ireland has 'once again highlighted the significant gender gap in local political leadership'.
Of the 100 Municipal District Chair positions filled, just 23 went to women – just one up on last year.
A total of 10 counties failed to select a single female MD chair and those included Longford, Westmeath, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Donegal, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick and Monaghan.
See Her Elected stressed 'this is the second year in a row that Donegal, Limerick, Carlow, Westmeath do not have any female chairs of their Municipal Districts'.
Digital Media and CRM Co-ordinator with See Her Elected Elaine Duggan said: “Congratulations to all the women who have been elected as chair of their local Municipal District, we wish them the very best as they navigate the year ahead.
“This is my second year recording and analysing the appointments of not only the Cathaoirleach of each county, but the chairs of each of the Municipal Districts. It was disappointing once again to see an increase of just one woman, in the number of women taking up MD Chairperson roles this year, especially when there are more than 250 women elected to our councils, who are more than capable of the job.
“When I analysed the figures deeper, it showed that once again the larger parties held most of the positions. Fianna Fail took 39 Municipal District chair seats in total. Just 9 went to women, while 30 went to men. Fine Gael councillors took 23 chairperson, 5 went to women, 18 to men.”
The study found just 19 women were selected as Leas Cathaoirleach/ Deputy Chair of the 100 MDs across the country.
Municipal Districts form a sub-county tier of local government.
They play a critical role in hyper-local governance through agreeing the annual programme of proposed works to be carried out within the district.