Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Established

Published: Monday, December 18, 2017

NWCI is delighted to announced that a Women’s Parliamentary Caucus has been established in the Oireachtas, and that NWCI has been asked to act as secretariat for the group.

We have been calling for a women’s caucus to be established for many years and we were thrilled to see such strong cross party support for the Caucus. 

The Caucus is made up of current and former female members of the Oireachtas who are automatically included in as members, unless they choose to opt out.

In the first elections of the Caucus, Deputy Catherine Martin was elected as Chairperson. The Caucus will be working on issues that affect women and they aim to move a piece of legislation to coincide with the centenary of women’s suffrage in 2018.

With the Caucus, Ireland is following the positive worldwide trend of establishing specific parlimentary spaces for women, with approximately 86 women’s parliamentary caucuses around the world.