Welcome to Leading the Change — a podcast mini series brought to you by Fine Gael all about encouraging more women and people from diverse backgrounds to get involved in politics. Hosted by Maria Walsh, MEP for Midlands-North West, we will bring you discussions with Fine Gael politicians and activists about why they got involved in politics.

This is all part of Fine Gael's awareness campaign aimed at fostering greater diversity and inclusion in our party and in Irish politics. The campaign will contribute to empowering all people to see a role for themselves in politics and responds to Fine Gael's broader policy efforts to strengthen our commitment to gender-balanced and more diverse politics.

Fine Gael is committed to fostering greater diversity and inclusion in our party and in Irish politics. Our goal is to enable politics to become culturally rich and vibrant and in tune with the diversity of our society.

By portraying the commitment of our leaders and role models from across our organisation, the campaign aims to:- Spotlight the different ways we can all participate in politics;- Encourage women from all walks of life and experiences, migrants, people with disabilities, and others, to get involved by showing them that there is support and that they can succeed in these roles;- Highlight the power and achievements of different people across our organisation with a focus on possibilities and opportunities rather than impediments.

If you would like to learn more about how you could lead the change and discover how you could get involved in politics, visit finegael.ie/getinvolved. There you will find insights from some of our representatives about why they got involved plus lots of useful information about how Fine Gael can support you.