Election 2024: Which parties have selected the most women candidates?

Tomas Doherty

A record number of women are standing for the Dáil in next week's general election, making up just over a third of the candidates.

An analysis of the final candidate lists published by returning officers shows that 246 women are standing across the State's 43 constituencies, 36 per cent of candidates.

Political parties have been issued with a candidate gender quota in this election, requiring them to have at least 40 per cent women on their ballots.

Those failing to reach that quota face a reduction of 50 per cent in State funding.

The Green Party and Aontú are the only parties running more women than men as candidates.

Women make up 53 per cent of Green candidates and 51 per cent of Aontú candidates.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have 41 per cent women candidates, while women make up 42 per cent of Sinn Féin's election candidates.

The National Party and Irish Freedom Party have the lowest percentage of women candidates, based on an analysis of all parties fielding five or more candidates in the election.

The number of women on the ballot will also vary considerably depending on where you are voting.

There are five constituencies where more than half the candidates are women (Meath East, Wicklow-Wexford, Dublin West, Dublin South-Central and Offaly) and two constituencies where there is an even split (Cork South-West and Laois).

In contrast, only 15 per cent of the candidates are women in Dublin North-West and Dublin Bay North.

Brian Sheehan, chief executive of Women for Election, said the growing number of women putting themselves forward for election was good news for Irish democracy.

"Voters in Ireland now have a huge opportunity to fundamentally change the political landscape and make politics work better for everyone by electing more women to the Dáil," he said.

"Politics works best when there is a balance of men and women involved in decision-making."

In the outgoing Dáil, there were just 37 women TDs out of 160, making up only 23 per cent of all TDs. Fifteen of the 43 constituencies had no women TDs.

Only 131 women have ever been elected to the Dáil since the foundation of the State, while 1,214 men have been elected.