Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am slightly surprised the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has not stayed as he said on the airwaves that he wants to know how we cast our vote. It is utterly shocking if a Cabinet colleague does not know. In whose name and on whose authority was Ireland's vote made? As Deputy Wallace states, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. A decision has been taken to allow Saudi Arabia to sit on that body. It is a country based on male guardianship that forbids women from obtaining a passport, marrying and travelling without the approval of a male relative; if they try to do so without approval, women can end up in prison and they cannot get out without permission from the same person. In 2002, Saudi morality police blocked a rescue in a girls' school that was on fire because the girls were not wearing headscarves and black robes; 15 young women died. The Saudi Government enforces sex segregation in virtually all workplaces except hospitals and it fines businesses that do not comply. In food outlets men and women stand in separate lines and in many public buildings women are not even allowed to enter. In most places where there is segregation, women must sit down the back. As one Saudi woman has stated:

the decision to allow this oppressive regime to join a commission designed to empower women makes me feel personally violated and invisible. It is demoralising for us and sends a message that for the international community, Saudi wealth and power are more important than women's lives.

The Minister cannot hide behind a spurious precedent. This issue is outrageous and people have a right to know how Ireland voted.

See this speech in context