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

I start by thanking the assembly members for taking part in the process. We look forward to their recommendations. Their work will play an important role in shaping policy and political decisions that are necessary to end gender inequality. Having said that, much of the research and analysis that will come from this process is already known to us. For example, we know that women on average earn less than men. The latest figures for the European Union tell us that women in Ireland earn 86 cent for every euro a man earns. We know that the older one is, the larger that gap is. We know that women workers are disproportionately represented in low-paid sectors such as childcare, health, education and retail and that under 7% of company CEOs are women. They are not just problems we have today. They are problems we take with us throughout our careers and into retirement. In terms of cold hard cash, women earn less money so they consequently have less money to invest in their futures. The EU average pension gap between women and men is a massive 35.7%.

There are, of course, decisions the Government can make today that would start to address poverty in work for these women. Fine Gael and the Independents could introduce a living wage across the public sector. We know that women disproportionately populate the lowest-paid public sector grades. Aldi has committed to a living wage. It boggles the mind that the Government cannot do the same. The Government could also increase the national minimum wage. The Government has collectively refused to comply with the Data Protection Commissioner's instruction on the public services card in a really awful manner. If the Taoiseach is serious about this, there is a number of steps he can take right now.

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