Ms Eilís Ní Chaithnía:

I will make a couple of comments. I thank the Deputy for her support for many of the positions we are putting forward, which is really heartening to hear. There is a really low take-up of parental leave in Ireland because it is not paid. The National Women's Council has welcomed the introduction of two weeks paid paternity leave. In addition to that, there is a need for the introduction of paid parental leave. We will continue to push for that and we hope to see committee-wide support for it.

In terms of the gender pension gap, there are a range of steps that need to be taken. It would be really heartening and welcomed if the committee put a motion forward to prioritise the issue of pensions over the next year and, in particular, to push for a reduction in the gender pension gap. That could be done by suggesting an open consultation on the introduction of the universal pension and by the introduction of a homemaker's credit backdated to 1973. If those two steps were taken in the first instance we would be a long way closer to reducing the gender pension gap. I can send around our most recent submission on the universal pension so the committee has the information.

We have been pushing for gender inequality budgeting. There will be a €5 increase for contributory pensions, but because it ispro rata it will not have the same benefits for women as it will for men. There are all these introductions of what seem to be very promising first steps to increasing people's economic sustainability, in comparison to the past seven years, yet they are not doing what they need to for women and what they are doing for men. Gender inequality budgeting would allow the women of Ireland to see how much the Government prioritises their economic independence and general well-being. It would empower women to argue for particular actions to be taken if they could see very clearly the difference between the impacts of Government decisions in each budget. That can only be done if really effective gender inequality budgeting is introduced. Gender inequality budgeting should not just look at expenditure, which is what we focused on today, but also on revenue. That is being done in Austria, Sweden and Scotland. We will be bringing together experts on that, which we can bring to the committee's attention. We will invite the committee to ask them to appear before the committee.