Working hours in the Dáil should be more family-friendly to encourage more female TDs, the Greens said today.
Launching its pre-election Women's Manifesto, the party called for a Monday-to-Friday week from 9.30am until 7pm at the latest.
TDs currently work long hours on Tuesday and Wednesday as parliamentary debates on legislation can often run up to midnight.
Women's spokesman for the Greens, Cllr Bronwen Maher, said females only made up only 14 per cent of the 166 TDs in the Dáil warned that political parties must achieve better gender balance.
"Breaking into politics is not easy and cannot be achieved overnight," she said. "We will introduce family-friendly working hours in the Dáil, running from Monday afternoons to Friday lunchtimes, with days starting at 9.30am and ending no later than 7pm."
The Green Party's Manifesto, Prioritising Equality and Human Rights, was launched on the eve of International Women's Day.
The party also pledges a range of measures to combat domestic violence and human trafficking and offered improved supports to allow women easier access to work, health and childcare.
The document also calls for six months parental benefit, refundable tax credits for carers, nationwide screening for cervical and breast cancers, more midwives to encourage natural births and comprehensive sex education in schools.