Photograph of Fianna Fáil TD's outside the Dáil creates a stir over 'stark gender imbalance'

A total of 44 woman have been elected to serve in the 34th Dáil, out of the 174 seats that were filled following the General Election.

Although this is the highest number of women ever elected to the Dáil, some users of social media - particularly X - say there is still a 'stark gender imbalance'.

Since the foundation of the State, 131 woman have ever been elected to serve in the Dáil compared to 1,214 men.

According to Women for Election, Ireland is ranked 104th in the World when it comes to the number of women serving in national parliaments.

The organisation has also pointed out that women make up 50% of the population in Ireland but account for less than a quarter of political decision-makers in both national and local government.

Commenting on X, formerly Twitter, Kayla Crowley-Carbery said: "Irish politics has a major problem with women. This election, only 25% of TDs elected were women, compared with an EU average of 33%".

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Dr Sandra Ryan commented on the X post below, saying "as a women and mother of 3 adult daughters I don't feel represented."

And the counting is complete in #GE24!

All 174 seats filled. 44 women have been elected. That’s 25.3% of TDs in the incoming #Dail

The most women ever elected. But slow progress towards a gender balanced parliament. ️

You can find out more here ⤵️https://t.co/mYwWfxuriq pic.twitter.com/iLJe4G3jPU

— Women for Election (@women4election) December 2, 2024

Comments like "so much for diversity," and "wow I didn't realise just how few woman there are!," circulated social media following the release of the photo of Fianna TDs who met as a group for the first time on Wednesday.

A deeply embarrassing photo of the Fianna Fail grouping elected as TD’s in #GE24
And the paltry number of women TD’s pushed in together to the front of the group.
More 1950’s than 2024.
Modern Ireland, huh…

— Ita O'Kelly (@ItaOKelly) December 4, 2024

Some X users counteracted with, "people should be elected on merit not gender…" as a debate was sparked on the social media app.

Another X user agreed, "Oh really! Look at some of the seriously incompetenat women in that photo! Let's have better tds based on their ability not their gender."