Taoiseach: If you want more female Ministers, elect more women to the Dáil
The best way to get more women into Cabinet is to elect more of them to the Dáil, according to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
The Taoiseach has dismissed criticism that his ministerial picks are overwhelmingly male.
Of the 34 positions filled by Mr Varadkar since becoming Taoiseach, including Attorney General, only seven are women.
However, Mr Varadkar says that proportion is the same as the number of women in the Dáil in the first place.
He said: "About 20% of our TDs are women and as a result of that about 20% of our Ministers are women.
"What I'd like to see is that 30, 40 or even 50% of our TDs being women and then that would give me or future Taoisigh a bigger group to choose from.
"As a party Fine Gael already have more female TDs than any other party, and we're going to build on that."
