David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Teachta Brady for tabling this motion. In Sinn Féin's alternative budget this year, which was fully costed, Deputy Brady made sure these issues were included. It shows that these things can be done and the money is there to do it if we make the right choices. The Government could have done this in budget 2017 in all the areas the Deputy has raised but it refused to do so. The Minister and every Teachta Dála in this House know that austerity has deeply and disproportionately affected women. This is a fact which is backed up by all the reports that have been done by independent groups which have analysed budget after budget since 2009.

This is not by accident either; it is by design. Care work is highly gendered and leads women to put family needs before their own by taking themselves out of full-time employment and a normal career path which is, in fact, highly gender-biased towards men. The fact that women in general take care and social support roles in our society means that when the State supports in these areas are cut it is women who are expected to take up the slack. When women leave full-time employment or turn down a promotion because of family commitments this affects the credits they are able to build up, with knock-on effects for their pension entitlements. Instead of acknowledging this the Government actually reinforces this inequality through legislation and pension rules.

We still have not heard what Fianna Fáil is going to do, although it has tabled an amendment as it always does. It rarely support sensible, realistic and costed proposals brought forward by Sinn Féin and the last time Fianna Fáil was in power it slashed social supports while putting over €20 billion into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society. The effects of that decision are still with us today. The crisis was caused by a cosy cartel of bankers, developers and politicians but it was low-income to middle-income households, lone parents, and many, mainly female, low-paid public and private sector workers who were made to pay for the mess. Those who were not able to defend themselves at the time were made the key targets of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael when it came to picking up the pieces.

I commend the motion to the House and hope that Fianna Fáil and the other so-called Opposition Members of this Dáil support the motion.

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