Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have spent the vast majority of my working life defending workers and their rights and I came in here to continue that work. That is why I believe this motion is so important. The impact of the gender pay gap is felt by women at every single level in society and most acutely by the cohort of women that will face retirement in the very near future. I appreciate that there are people in this House who believe the gender pay gap is the fault of women themselves, for not wearing the right gúna. I believe they call it "dressing for success" but the gender pay gap should be addressed by direct action from the Government and this House.

I will tell a story about a man who, to protect his identity and his dignity, I will call "Paul". I had the honour of presenting him with a badge to mark 50 years' membership of the trade union for which I worked. On retirement at the age of 65 he had to go to the place he referred to as the "labour exchange". He told me he was not on the dole but had retired after 50 years of working. When the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, was here earlier he tried to give us a lecture about what pensions were and how they operated but I will take no lecture from the Minister or anybody else about how pensions operate because I know, and so does Paul. His was an integrated pension and he had to go onto the dole. After 50 years of working, that man had retired and was not unemployed. He had finished working and had finished paying tax in the days when, as my mother used to say, "tax was tax". He paid every shilling he was supposed to pay and, God love him, he was also an activist in the Labour Party. He asked me, "Can we not contact the Labour Party and see what it can do?" I said, "No, it was the Labour Party and its very best friends in Fine Gael who did this to you". It gave me no pleasure to say that to him. People are entitled to the dignity of a decent retirement after 50 years of working so I urge Deputies, in particular those who think we can address the gender pay gap by dressing a bit more smartly, to support this motion. It is important and enjoys the support of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the broad trade union movement, for all the reasons I have outlined.

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