Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I briefly listened to the discussion earlier on the barriers to women going into politics. The Chair mentioned it as well there. I thought it was tokenism at first when an initiative was brought in in relation to women in sport: “If she can’t see it, she can’t be it.” I now think that move has had an impact. It is simple things like Sky Sports news, for example, has the same amounts of women sports highlighted as men’s sports. That is the way it should always have been but it was not like that. Over the years, you would have got maybe a 30-second snippet at the end.

I have mentored girls’ GAA teams for years and seen the work they do. I have often seen when the hailstones came and the boys ran off the pitch and the girls were still out on the pitch. Yet when the funding came through to the club or whatever, the boys would get a bit more funding than the girls. That has started to change in recent years and that is down to a national emphasis being put on it. The other thing to bring up women’s sport is that funding has matched that. It was not just speaking; funding has been brought into that. We have seen how well the Ireland women’s soccer team is doing because funding has started to be put in place. They are not changing in an airport on the way to matches or getting hand-me-downs from the boys any more. They are being recognised for the athletes they are. They have done our country proud and will continue to do so.

Is that overarching piece in relation to recognition and promotion of women coming into politics in place, as well as the funding that goes with it? As the Chair said, there are only two Chairs that are women in here. I am lucky enough to be in a party that is led by strong women and we have women in prominent positions, including the Chair, but it is not always the same. They promoted women in sport. What needs to be done to do the same for women in politics?