Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I have congratulated Deputy O'Gorman already, as a star former student, on becoming Minister. I am delighted to see it. I thank him for those warm words. I really appreciate that.

I thank the Minister also for his recognition of the work of the Citizens' Assembly and its members. We on this committee have been conscious of the immense commitment and the immense contribution that the Citizens' Assembly members have made to developing this clear blueprint for how we achieve gender equality in Ireland.

I have engaged with the Citizens' Assembly in person but we have also had the pleasure of having Dr. Catherine Day join us as our first witness in public session, and we have worked with Dr. Day and her team extensively. I pay tribute to Dr. Day and to the members, many of whom join us online for our public sessions also.

Our members have already expressed our strong commitment to ensure that the 45 recommendations that the assembly has generated are taken forward and implemented and that we see real progress as a result. We are determined to do that within the timeframe we have been set, which is nine months from 3 March.

Because of the recognition of how much work the Citizens' Assembly did, our focus as a committee is on how to implement the reforms rather than reopening the why, the policy debates or the substantive issues behind the recommendations. We are focused on the practical and on a timeframe for delivery of the recommendations.

I thank the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, in particular, for co-ordinating the departmental responses, which we sought over Christmas and which have been useful to us in our deliberations. We appreciate that. I am conscious, from the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's response, how much of a role his Department plays in the implementation of so many of these recommendations, not only the constitutional change and the gender-based violence recommendations.

I will invite contributions from the floor. I will take an order of indication. Some people are joining us online. Of those in person, I will call Deputy Hourigan, Senators Ruane, Warfield and Pauline O'Reilly, and Deputy Cronin.