A male member of Fianna Fáil is taking action after the party ordered that the only woman candidate be selected in a Dublin constituency.

Local Area Representative Brian Mohan missed out on putting his name forward in Dublin Central because Fianna Fáil directed that a woman must be selected there.

Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick was later selected unopposed at the party's convention in the constituency.

Mr Mohan confirmed today that he has initiated High Court proceedings challenging the constitutionality of parts of the 2012 Electoral Amendment Act.

The legislation requires 30% of political party election candidates to be women.

Where a political party fails to meet that gender quota it faces a cut of 50% to its State funding.

Mr Mohan's case is against Ireland and the Attorney General and he is being represented by former minister for justice and attorney general Michael McDowell and former political adviser Michael Roynane.

Mr Mohan says gender quotas, age quotas, racial quotas and socio-economic or religious quotas are purely "political discrimination" which is expressly prohibited by the Constitution.

The State has no right by law to use public resources to encourage the outcome of Dáil elections, Mr Mohan will argue.

It is likely that Mr Mohan's legal team will seek to have an early hearing date for the case given that the general election is less than five months away.