Submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Published: Wednesday, March 03, 2021

NWC welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the General Scheme of the Electoral reform bill. We welcome reform in this area and are supportive of a number of proposals. We are asking the commission to also address the following as part of its functions: • to take on a role around supporting and promoting political candidacy with women and underrepresented groups including overseeing the extension of candidate selection quotas for Local Elections • monitoring of public investment into political parties to ensure the participation of women • develops standards in political discourse that are free from discriminatory rhetoric and hate speech and tackling online abuse • amend the Electoral Act in order to protect the legitimate advocacy role of civil society organisations.

Download file: Submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage