Dublin City Council launches Ireland’s first local level cross-party women’s committee

Dublin City Council has announced that it has officially launched its new cross-party women’s committee today.

The council say that this committee is the first officially formed, fully cross-party working committee of its kind at local level anywhere in the country.

Its main aim is to strengthen women’s cross-party co-operation, thereby maximising overall impact on policies and decision-making.

It offers the opportunities to harness the institutional knowledge of long-established women councillors and combine it with new ideas and perspectives from more recently elected women councillors whilst also drawing on the various skills of all women councillors.

“Women councillors don’t network as much as our male counterparts due to other commitments outside of the council, including jobs and caring responsibilities,” said Cllr Darcy Lonergan, Chair.

“The Women’s Committee provides us with a set time every few weeks to gather to discuss and implement our common goals and priorities”

There are 3 key areas of focus:

• Economic (more benefits for carers and better maternity leave)
• Safety (making Dublin a safer city, in terms of urban planning, transport,domestic violence)
• Council (information exchange, sharing area motions, collective motions)

“By working together we can distribute the workload, therefore a project which may not have been achievable for one councillor can be progressed through the combined effort and support of multiple councillors,” added Cllr Lonergan.