John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

On a day such as today and in recent times, it is very easy to forget the progress which we have made in recent decades. It is less than 50 years ago since, for example, a working woman in the public service had to retire on marriage. I recall that there were very few women in the workplace. I became Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 1997 and one of the first acts I had the privilege of performing was to introduce the equal opportunity programme, which provided in excess of €450 million for the provision of child care across the State.

It was an equal opportunity measure, the object of the exercise being to provide equality of opportunity, not to discriminate, nor to force anybody to do anything which he or she did not wish to do, but to provide equality of opportunity. It did that to a large degree. I accept it could have been better but insofar as the funding was available it was utilised well. Today, almost an equal number of women as man are in the workplace and this is a very welcome development. I predict that in a matter of years, there will be a greater number of females in the workplace than males. It is very important that equality of opportunity be maintained. The relief is small beer in that context and it is not of massive relevance. Nonetheless, the support in particular of community child care services is of fundamental importance as we look at the make-up or the components of our workplace today.

With regard to the issue of the trade union subscriptions, I greatly support trade unionism and the tradition of Larkin and Connolly. It would be a very bad day for any democracy were it to be the case that a trade union could not gather lawfully and protest on behalf of its members. However, I found it ironic and feel obliged to comment on the statement of Deputy Ó Snodaigh. I agree with the right of people to protest, I agree with trade unionism and I would always defend trade unionists but what I could never defend and what I could never stand over in a democracy is an elected representative of this House going out onto the street with a mob, seeking to break down the gates of Government Buildings to which he is entitled, as a Member of this House, to walk through-----

See this speech in context