Italian MEP Licia Ronzulli takes part, with her baby, in a voting session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in September 2010. This is the kind of progress we need in Irish politics, says Joanna Tuffy. Picture: REUTERS/VINCENT KESSLER

I was one of the TDs interviewed by the National Women's Council as part of the preparation for its report 'A Parliament of All Talents: Building a Women Friendly Oireachtas'. The interview took over an hour and I gave very detailed answers to the questions put to me by the National Women's Council's representative.

However, although there are several politicians featured and quoted in the report, I am not one of them. This is despite the fact that I am one of the few women politicians who has a young child that was born while I was a member of the Oireachtas.

During the interview I argued against some of the proposals of the National Women's Council. I have previously disagreed with them on gender quotas and 'women only' meetings. My discordant views are not referred to in the report. I wonder why?

There are some good ideas in the report by the National Women's Council. There are many, however, that would make it worse for women TDs and senators.

I bring my daughter to school before I head into Leinster House from Lucan. If the National Women's Council proposals for Dail sittings from nine to five Monday to Friday were implemented I would no longer be able to do that.

That I get to drop my daughter to school some mornings is one of the trade-offs for me as a TD who is often not home in the evening or at weekends because of either Dail sittings or meetings that I am expected to attend in my community. I have it easier than a TD who has to travel to the Dail from, for example, Kerry or Donegal and who has to stay overnight.

The National Women's Council's proposals would make it impossible for many female and male TDs to combine their roles with family life. Those TDs would be expected to leave home on a Sunday night not to return until Friday night. That does not appear to be a problem for the National Women's Council despite the fact it would surely discourage many women with young children from running for the Dail.

The National Women's Council wants no debates to take place at nighttime. I agree that late-night sittings should be rare. However, it would be an abdication of duty for a parliament not to meet when there is a need for emergency legislation to be passed.

A major flaw in the National Women's Council's report is its lack of proposals to help women with babies to continue to participate in decision-making by the Oireachtas. Its main proposal for women that have babies is to take maternity leave. In other words, to make women disappear from decision- making at this stage of their lives.

Photographs have been published showing women MEPs voting with babes in arms (see left). It seems that is a step too progressive for our National Women's Council. Under our Constitution you cannot take leave from being a Teachta Dala. A by-election would have to be held to fill the vacancy. You can, of course, miss votes and this is already permitted by the Oireachtas. Informal arrangements already in place could be formalised. Remote voting could be explored and that is something suggested in the report by the National Women's Council.

But for a TD to tell her constituents to go elsewhere while she took leave for six months would be an act of political self-sabotage. It would also mean that her voice would be missing from debate.

It is also rather sexist to say we need a women-friendly Oireachtas. What we need is an Oireachtas that allows our elected male and female representatives to combine their legislative roles with their lives with their families and in their communities.

JOANNA TUFFY IS A LABOUR PARTY TD FOR DUBLIN MID WEST

Irish Independent