Women in politicsThere will be even fewer women TDs as a result of the election than there were in the outgoing Dáil. The new intake of 166 deputies contains just 20 women, two fewer than in the last Dáil.
This means that Ireland will continue to be have one of the worst gender balances in the lower house of its parliament in the democratic world.
Three of the 22 outgoing female TDs - Fianna Fáil's Síle de Valera and the Independents Marian Harkin and Mildred Fox - did not seek re-election. Six women - Cecilia Keaveney in Donegal North East, Breda Moynihan-Cronin in Kerry South, Liz O'Donnell in Dublin South, Fiona O'Malley in Dún Laoghaire, Mae Sexton in Longford-Westmeath, and Catherine Murphy in Kildare North - lost their seats.
Five new female TDs were elected: Margaret Conlon in Cavan-Monaghan, Áine Brady in Kildare North, Lucinda Creighton in Dublin South East, Joanna Tuffy in Dublin Mid-West and Mary White in Carlow-Kilkenny.
Two former female TDs regained their seats: Mary O'Rourke in Longford-Westmeath and Deirdre Clune in Cork South Central.
A number of high-profile female candidates who had been tipped for election, such as Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, Fine Gael's Máireád McGuinness, the Green Party's Deirdre de Búrca, the Socialist Party's Clare Daly and Labour's Phil Prendergast, missed out.
The overall loss of two women TDs places Ireland even further out of line with international norms.
Never in the history of the State has the number of women in the Dáil exceeded 14 per cent of all deputies. In the outgoing Dáil, the figure was just 13 per cent and this has now dropped close to 12 per cent. In international terms, this is an unusually poor performance.
According to an Inter-Parliamentary Union study last year, the outgoing Dáil ranked 78th of 188 countries. Its female representation was below the average for the Nordic countries (41 per cent), the Americas (22 per cent), Europe (20 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (17 per cent).
In the last Dáil, there were no women on three Dáil select committees, including the Committee for Social and Family Affairs and the drop in numbers means that a similar situation is likely to arise.
The situation is likely to raise again the question of positive discrimination in the selection of candidates. Just as important, however, may be the treatment of female candidates who do get selected. The clear decision of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to favour one of his running mates, Cyprian Brady over another, Mary Fitzpatrick, suggested that female representation is not yet a priority within the system.
Women in the 30th Dáil: 21 of 166
Áine Brady (FF) Kildare North
Joan Burton (Lab) Dublin West
Catherine Byrne (FG) Dublin South Central
Deirdre Clune (FG) Cork South Central
Margaret Conlon (FF) Cavan-Monaghan
Beverley Flynn (Ind) Mayo
Mary Coughlan (FF) Donegal South West
Lucinda Creighton (FG) Dublin South East
Olwyn Enright (FG) Laois-Offaly
Mary Hanafin (FF) Dún Laoghaire
Mary Harney (PD) Dublin Mid-West
Máire Hoctor (FF) Tipperary North
Kathleen Lynch (Lab) Cork North Central
Liz McManus (Lab) Wicklow
Olivia Mitchell (FG) Dublin South
Jan O'Sullivan (Lab) Limerick East
Róisín Shortall (Lab) Dublin North West
Joanna Tuffy (Lab) Dublin Mid-West
Mary Upton (Lab) Dublin South Central
Mary Wallace (FF) Meath East
Mary White (Green) Carlow-Kilkenny
There were six women among the 30 outgoing TDs who lost their seats.
Breda Cronin-Moynihan (Lab) Kerry South
Cecelia Keaveney (FF) Donegal North-East
Catherine Murphy (Ind) Kildare North
Liz O'Donnell (PD) Dublin South
Fiona O'Malley (PD) Dún Laoghaire
Mae Sexton (PD) Longford-Westmeath.
- Joe Carroll