An Independent Minister has said she was disappointed by the lack of women appointed as junior ministers.

Katherine Zappone's comments come after Fine Gael TD Kate O'Connell criticised the lack of senior positions for women within the Government.

The new TD Dublin Bay South told the Irish Independent she was "absolutely shocked" by the gender disparity.

She referred to the junior ministerial appointments as 'jobs for the boys'.

Only four of 15 junior ministers in the new Dáil - less than a third - are female.

Deputy O'Connell also hit out at the Taoiseach for selecting only two women - former TD Michelle Mulherin and Senator Marie-Louise O’Donnell - to fill the eight Fine Gael-appointed Seanad posts.

Speaking at the Front Line Defenders Humanitarian Awards this morning, Minister Katherine Zappone said she wants women to have more of a voice in the Oireachtas.

She said: "there is now a much bigger number of women within parliament. One of the things I often say to my women colleagues in the Dáil [is that] it's really important that we have our own conversations together to consider women issues, but also the wider issues from the perspective of our experiences as women".