Fine Gael Candidate Heather Humphreys is this week bidding to create a little piece of history. If elected, Humphreys will be the first ever female Fine Gael TD to serve in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency.

 Indeed one has to go all the way back to the early eighties to find the last time Fine Gael even ran a female candidate. At that time it was in the form of Mona Hoban followed a few years later by Aileen Cahill, both women were based in the Cavan end of the constituency and neither managed to be elected.

It would be fair to say then that it’s not exactly a great record for the Fine Gael women so far. However, Heather is unperturbed.

“I think Ireland has come along way since then and I suppose I’ve already broke a little bit with tradition in that I’ll be the first Monaghan woman ever put forward by the Fine Gael convention,” she jokes.

A remark by veteran Labour TD Pat Rabitte at the outset of this election campaign brought the issue of women in politics to the fore. Many claimed it was just an ill judged, glib remark that held no substance to it. But when one looks a little closer, the statistics don’t lie.

The number of women seeking election in 2011 is a mere 15% of the total number of candidates. Many commentators have pointed to the old fashioned, traditional methods of candidate selection as one of the reasons behind the lack of women entering politics. Others have cited the issue of childcare and a lack of confidence on women’s part.

Perhaps the most obvious is the political culture prevalent in Ireland. The minute presence of women in the Dail has been an issue since its inception. In recent times, the political parties have mentioned quota systems and more family friendly Dail sessions to encourage women’s participation. Yet, we head into the 2011 election with an all too familiar sight – very few women.

“I’m a mother of two teenage daughters myself and I know that it’s a fulltime job. I don’t think I could have contemplated running when they were younger. The Dail sometimes sits until 11pm at night, if you have young children it’s inevitable that those kind of hours are going to create problems and childcare is very expensive.”

However Heather rejects the contention that women are lacking in confidence when it comes to politics.

“I’m not sure I buy into that theory. I can only speak for myself but I’ve been a County Councillor since 2003 and I have never had any problem taking any of my male colleagues to account. It’s true that you need to have a thick skin for politics, but that can be said for men and women.”

And what of the so called ‘boys club’ nature of Dail Eireann?

“Well it would be a lie to say that the Dail is not dominated by men, but I think the onus is on women ourselves to change that. We need more women to get involved at local government level, this in turn will lead to more female candidates come general election time. I’ve worked on the County Council for over 7 years now and I even had the privilege to serve as Mayor of County Monaghan during that time. I had to work hard for it all the way along but that’s how I’ve earned the right to put my name before the people for Fine Gael now.”

 So should women vote for women? Humphreys is quick to dismiss such a course of action.

“No I don’t think so, not at all. Women and men alike should strive to vote for the best candidates. In Cavan-Monaghan, the three main parties all have female candidates this time and I believe people will study party policy as well as the candidates own credentials when making their decision. I certainly don’t tell people on the doorstep to vote for me because I’m a woman. I point to my political experience and my expertise of financial affairs gained through my work as Manager of a Credit Union. I don’t think for a second that gender will enter peoples mind when they cast their vote and I believe that’s a good thing.”