Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if Deputy Coppinger has ever had an opportunity to be aware that in terms of women’s responsibilities in this world, the women who every day look after their families, their partners, their children and their elder parents should be all of our heroes. For those of us who are elected to politics as women, it is an enormous privilege to serve. I do hope to see a higher number of women participating in politics. That is part of the development of democratic societies and is to be welcomed, including the Deputy’s own presence in this House.

The Deputy had a parliamentary question on the social welfare system earlier this morning. As I told her then, in the studies carried out by the ESRI and published several months ago, women benefit slightly more from our social welfare system.

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