Ms Camille Loftus:

Having worked with the National Women's Council of Ireland for many years, I know and we are confident that women, in all their diversity, are represented by the council. Nonetheless, Deputy Seán Barrett raises a very important question in that regard because, obviously, women, no more than men, are not a homogenous group. This speaks to the importance of being able to examine how these issues cross-cut and affect people in different ways. A fully developed equality analysis would take account of these factors.

The Deputy hit on a very big issue, namely, the provision of unpaid care. Personally, I do not think any developed country has yet mastered this dynamic, but it is probably one of the most important questions we must answer into the future. We are all living longer, but we are likely to need support and care for longer periods throughout our lives. In fact, I was just reviewing research on low-income families and care. One of the things that comes thorugh very strongly is that it is not a question of either-or. People are sometimes invested in providing very high levels of full-time care to the exclusion of any other activity. For some, it may be less: they may be combining care with other part-time work. There may be a period in which care is not needed, but a parent may then become infirm and one may have to step back into that space. Therefore, when we think about care, I always caution that it is not about two boxes, that it is not a question of one and the other. As people move between providing these levels of care all the time, we must be very live to these dynamics. A good gender analysis should show this and give answers to these questions or at least allow for their consideration in some regard.

The second point I make is that this is the real value of having an equality statement. Post the budget, members all want to be able to ask what progress was made, what the budget did and what was accomplished in it. A good review across government should be ensured from an equality perspective to the effect that each Department or sector should be able to state what it sees as a priority. It struck me that the sectoral committees of the Oireachtas might want to state what they thought the equality priorities should be in the areas of children and youth affairs, health, education and housing. That would be a good metric because they are the ones involved in dealing with these issues day in, day out. One of the most challenging aspects of gender budgeting is the need to bring together two sets of expertise. This goes to the heart of the Chairman's point about why this is important. We need to find ways to integrate the two sets of expertise early in the process. There are people with expertise who understand gender and the equality dynamics and there are a bunch of others who engage in budgeting. These two elements need to be knitted well together. That is where the equality statement will be of assistance to the committee in integrating the expertise of, say, sectoral committees and line Departments in the specific policy areas with the equality priorities that should come from the process.