Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have had the pleasure of being one of the two nominees from the Technical Group, along with Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, to the Convention on the Constitution. Both of us have been fortunate in being able to attend all the sessions so far, which is very helpful in getting a feel for, in particular, the citizen members. I made it my business to ask a number of the citizen members how they felt the convention was going and what they wanted to get out of it. They put in considerable time reading the material beforehand and taking the weekend to have an honest deliberation. The one thing they wanted was for note to be taken of the recommendations. They wanted it to mean something and result in referenda being put to the people on some if not all of the recommendations. There is a very important message in that. If there is to be a further successful constitutional convention we need to be able to show not just that it was a good method of deliberation on issues, but that there was an actual result in terms of putting carefully considered and thought out proposals to the people.

When I first looked at the list of issues we were to consider, I wondered why we were even considering this one. For my entire adult life I have felt it was an inappropriate provision in the Constitution because it shows a dependant-type approach to one gender. I felt there were meatier issues we could consider. I felt that if this was put to the people it was something that they would feel needed to be changed. However, it opened up the debate on the role of care, irrespective of the gender of the care-giver. Recognising that is valuable in itself.

Most of us feel that people should have the choice to go to work and in particular when they have very young children they should have the choice to stay at home. This means that Government policy must more or less assist, regardless of whether the care-giver is male or female. The workforce now contains a very high number of women. An issue that constantly comes up is that of affordable child care. It will not go away if women are going to continue to play a full and active part in the workforce. They are very often required to work because many young families have big mortgages making it a necessity for both parties in a relationship to work. We also have a large number of lone parents. There is considerable evidence that those parenting alone suffer poverty.

Sweden has made a consistent effort to encourage women to participate in politics. While it is laudable to change how politics is funded to encourage women into active politics, it is important that we do it at local government level, which is an important entry route. I support quotas because I believe that nothing else will work. When people talk about quotas for women, it is almost invariably said that they are lesser candidates because they have been selected by way of a quota. It is interesting that we are prepared to take 85% male representation and if we consider that there is equal intelligence between the genders it means that we are actually losing out on a contribution that could be made, even from the point of view of the level of intelligence, life experiences and different ways of looking at things.

We are not just discussing representative politics, but also how we can involve more women in decision making. The Government made a commitment that it expected to have 40% of women on State boards. I tabled a series of parliamentary questions on the matter and Mary Regan published an article in the Irish Examiner with a breakdown by Department. That number has been exceeded in Departments like the Departments of Health, and Children and Youth Affairs, or in areas with boards related to those Departments.

However, there is underperformance in respect of the targets in places like the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and there is a direct relationship with the outcomes for the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. It is vital we start to see that gap close, especially in the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, because they have a direct bearing on the quality of the provision that can be made from the other Departments.

At the time the 1937 Constitution was framed, the backdrop was different. Many of its provisions are rather progressive when one considers what was happening in Europe at the time. I had thought that most of the provisions around the family had been more or less insisted on by the Roman Catholic Church or the hierarchy at least. Only when I participated in the Commission on the Family some years ago did I acquire a fuller understanding of how what was happening elsewhere in Europe served as a backdrop to how the Constitution was framed, and I was rather surprised by that.

I return to the point I made at the beginning. Before we embark on another constitutional convention or an expansion of this convention, it is important to finish the work of this one and ensure it results in the appropriate questions being put to the people in order that we make the changes that have been recommended.

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