National Women’s Council of Ireland AGM

In Sibéal’s last AGM in November 2010 it was decided that Sibéal should become a member of the National Women’s Council of Ireland. This means also, that Sibéal has full access to and voting rights in the AGM. This year’s AGM was held in the Gresham hotel in Dublin.

In addition to a welcome note from the NWCI CEO Susan McKay the attendees were treated to a witty and poignant keynote by the Minister of State Kathleen Lynch on women, politics and quotas. Cllr Lynch reflected on the political and economic situation of the country and the effects it has on women, all in the context of her personal experience of campaigning for change in Ireland. The minster’s full speech is available on the NWCI website. The speech was also covered by the Irish Times and the article is available on their website here.

This year the AGM proceedings included a report on last year’s motions and how they had been acted upon. This in particular was interesting to a newcomer to the Council, as it gave an excellent introduction to the workings of the organisation and on how motions are turned into actions, and how those actions in turn can lead to change on national level. Three motions related to women’s political participation were implemented under one plan of action, with a 2-year funded project to include training, reporting and research and seminars to begin in September 2011.

The action that already took place was lobbying for candidate quotas, reporting on the elections and participating in the Dáil sub-committees. As a result of all of the activism the government has this year agreed to tie the funding of the parties to the number of female candidates put forward. The plan of action shows a consistent approach with short- medium- and longterm goals implemented under the same heading and makes following the Council’s work easier.

The most controversial one of this year’s motions was asking the NCWI to support action to reduce the age of national breast screening program to 40 and to return mammographies to small hospitals. The motion was proposed by Survive and Thrive Breast Cancer Support Group and opposed by some organisations, including the Irish Cancer Society. Other motions included supporting Immigrant Council of Ireland’s pledge to reform the residence and citizenship policies that currently outline the receiving of state benefits as grounds for refusal of citizenship application; considering racism as an aggravating factor in assault cases, supporting local groups, young women’s participation and cross-border collaboration.

An emergency motion was also proposed to pressure the government to give a clarification on Ireland’s abortion legislation based on the ABC case ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. All motions were carried, and you can follow up on NWCI website what actions will be taken to implement the relevant actions.

For more information about the AGM and Sibéal’s role in the NWCI please contact Aura Lounasmaa at a.lounasmaa1@nuigalway.ie