Two capable female Ministers to serve in Justice

Two capable and hardworking female Ministers will serve the Justice Department during Minister Helen McEntee’s maternity leave, Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said.

“I am delighted the Government has made arrangements to enable Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to take maternity leave and provide full Ministerial cover to the Department of Justice,” Deputy Carroll MacNeill said.

“The assignment of the duties of the Department of Justice to two such capable women, already sitting at Cabinet, Minister for Social Protection, Community and Rural Development, Heather Humphreys, and Minister for State at the Department of Transport and Climate Action, Hildegarde Naughton, shows the Department will be well covered and served in Helen’s absence.

“Everyone wishes Helen McEntee so well. She is in a leadership position in Cabinet and she is in a leadership position in managing this issue for the first time in the history of the State as a woman in Cabinet.

“Of course, she is not the first person in Cabinet to have had a baby while serving in office and I hope we will get to the day when this doesn’t need to be as big a deal the next time.

“It is perfectly obvious we need to fix this for the future. There is a suite of constitutional and legislative reforms needed to change this for women TDs, ministers and councillors for the future.

“One of those is the Bill I published to enable remote voting. The Oireachtas Women’s caucus is due to meet the Taoiseach about the reforms needed shortly and work needs to continue quickly on this,” Deputy Carroll MacNeill concluded.