Less than a quarter of all applications for business grants to county enterprise boards are made by women, according to statistics gathered by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The figures, which refer to the period 1993 to 1997, show that for most boards the number of women applicants tends to be between 10 per cent and 20 per cent. However in urban areas the figures tends to be higher.
The percentage of women applicants to Cork City and Dublin City Enterprise Boards during the period was 30 per cent; the percentage for the Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown board was 31 per cent.
Limerick City Enterprise Board bucks the trend, with the figures showing that 67 per cent of applications to that board came from women. There was no-one available for comment at the board's offices yesterday.
The percentage of applicants to the Cavan board who were women was only 10.6, the lowest listed, while the figure for the North Cork board was 11 per cent. The percentages were broken down into applications from men, from women, and from men and women. The percentage of joint applications from men and women ranged from 1 per cent (Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown) to 27 per cent (Sligo).
The statistics were compiled by the department for the Commission on the Status of Women and were released following a request to the department under the Freedom of Information Act. The department also calculated that as of the end of June, of a total membership of 494 on the county enterprise boards, 118 (24 per cent) were women. Men chaired 29 of the boards, and women 6.
County enterprise boards provide grant and other assistance to "micro-businesses" or businesses which, generally, have less than 10 employees. They provide capital, employment and feasibility study grants, up to an overall maximum of £50,000 per business.
The department informed the commission that women are not automatically replaced by women on the boards, but that the boards are aware of Government policy recommending that at least 40 per cent of board members should be women.
