Female politicians ‘first to lose when the tide goes out’

FEMALE politicians are “the first to lose their seats when the tide goes out for a party” defeated Green Party candidate Colette Finn said following her elimination in the running for a seat in the city’s South West ward.

Ms Finn was one of six women out of 31 councillors on the last council term.

“Disappointed, but that’s the way its goes,” she said speaking to The Echo after she was eliminated on the sixth count.

“Part of the difficulty is people I think are just nervous of change and that’s the way they see it.

“I certainly told them what I thought straight and possibly that’s not what people want to hear at the end of the day.” 

Ms Finn was first elected onto Cork City Council in 2019 in what was deemed a “green wave” for the party that year when they secured four seats.

The outgoing Deputy Lord Mayor said she “absolutely” enjoyed her stint on council, during which time she helped form the women’s caucus to promote women in politics and enhance female participation in local government.

“I’m a long time saying we need more women in politics.

“It’s not easy, women get more heavily criticised, they’re the first to lose their seats when the tide goes out for a party.

“But that’s the nature of things and I suppose people have to understand that.

“But the gender imbalance in our politics is very problematic and I continue to bang that drum,” she said.

She said she believes gender quotas should have been introduced for local elections.

“In 2012 when the legislation was being passed, we made that argument that it needed to apply to the local elections because that gives you a pipeline of experienced people and we just could not get that over the line... and I think we’re suffering as a result of that,” she said.

Ms Finn ruled out running in the next local elections in 2029.