Open Government and Partnership Ireland conference offers the opportunity to get more women involved

Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013

How do we transform the Irish government to a more open, transparent and accountable place? How do we as citizens and organisations get more involved in the government process? These were just some of the questions on the minds of those who all gathered in the Wood Quay Venue for the first meeting on the Open Government Partnership.This global initiative, comprising of 60 countries, was launched in 2011. The aim of the project is to get governments to commit to the sharing of more information about their activities. It also intends to increase civic participation in decision making, fighting corruption and use new technology to strengthen governance.

While the intention of the conference was pure, it highlighted the disconnect between the government and women. The timing of the meeting from 9.30- 4.30 and lack of child care facilities automatically ensured that those who had a job or children to take care of could not be involved in the process.

That said, National Women Council welcomes this initiative and views it as an opportunity to influence policy around the use technology to make the government more accessible to women. Technology can be used to tighten the gap between women and their politicians by providing an open forum which they can access from home or the workplace, to discuss matters of importance.

NWCI will be making a submission to the initiative on how to use technology as a tool to make the Oireachtas more women friendly. We suggest the setting up of video conferencing facilities which would enable members participation in committee meetings without being physically present and spending long times on travelling from and to the Dail.

We encourage all our members to visit the 'Open Government' site and make a submission to admin@ogpireland.ie

For more information, contact Darcy Lonergan who supports NWCI's women in politics work. politics@nwci.ie .