Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

"The pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems which are in turn amplifying the impacts of the pandemic". That quote is taken from the UN policy brief published last April. While everybody might be susceptible to the virus, those who suffer poverty and inequality are much more likely to fall ill with the virus, and while there are many at-risk categories in the world, women are the largest category.

Women are at the front line in this pandemic. In the EU, 76% of healthcare workers are women. In addition, the vast majority of workers in other front-line, essential services are women. We know that women play a much greater role in the home, caring for children or older relatives. These roles put them more at-risk of contracting the virus. My party leader, my colleagues and I have been highlighting the issue of carers during the pandemic. Carers are front-line, essential workers. They are looking after the elderly, people who are unwell and some people with disabilities. They are already chronically underpaid and frequently under-protected. Caring roles are predominantly held by women. In the initial part of the pandemic they were not provided with PPE or other necessary protection from the virus to try to keep themselves, the persons for whom they were caring and their families safe.

Many women have had to make the decision to leave the workforce to care for a vulnerable family member full-time because they were afraid of bringing the virus home to that member from their workplace. They received little or no support. Schools and day centres for people with disabilities were closed. Little or no respite care was offered. Now, they are not being considered for prioritisation when vaccines are being rolled out. The concern of most carers is the question of who will provide care to their loved ones if they, their carers, are sick.

The coronavirus crisis is not only a medical crisis but also an economic crisis. As I said, women are on the front line in many ways, but they are more likely to be involved in part-time or temporary employment. People in these positions are at higher risk of being laid off or losing their jobs during an economic downturn. In addition, the majority of workers in the tourism and hospitality sector are women. The majority of workers in retail are women. These are the sectors which have been forced to close for the longest periods and have received the least support. Many people involved in those sectors may end up not returning to employment, which means the gender pay gap will widen.

Women in the home were carrying the burden of the work before the virus hit our shores. On average, they did double the amount of unpaid work in the home that their male counterparts did. Since the start of the crisis and the closure of schools, it is mainly women who are taking on the role of teacher as well. This has been particularly difficult for single parents, the majority of whom are women. Women have been put under huge stress due to working from home, home schooling and doing in-house work.

Prior to Covid-19, domestic violence was highly prevalent, affecting approximately one in every four women in Ireland. Restrictions introduced to protect people from Covid-19 have unintentionally had the effect of increasing the incidence of domestic violence, with women's organisations and service providers recording a sharp increase in reports of domestic violence and requests for assistance. Safe Ireland reported that nearly 2,000 women and more than 400 children received help from a domestic violence service each month in the first six months of the pandemic. According to figures released under freedom of information, there was an 88% increase in the number of domestic violence cases dealt with by the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, last year, with 495 cases sent forward for trial. That is an increase from 249 in 2019.

While the reasons for the increase in domestic violence have yet to be determined, experts on this issue warn that Government-imposed measures deemed necessary to suppress the spread of Covid-19 have had the unintended, negative consequence of compounding risk factors for domestic violence, including unemployment, poverty, social isolation, relationship conflict and alcohol abuse. At the same time, service providers report that victims of domestic violence have diminished access to help and support, be it from family, friends, colleagues, doctors or social workers, as a result of the stay-at-home and social distancing measures. Victims report that these same measures are increasing the level of control their abusers exert over them. Long-term underfunding from successive Governments has meant that the services necessary to respond to women and children experiencing domestic abuse are lacking and not fit for purpose. For example, it has been reported that in the final four months of last year 800 requests from women to be taken into a refuge so they could flee domestic violence at home were turned down due to lack of space.

There is no refuge for women and children in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. I acknowledge that Tearmann Domestic Abuse Service does sterling work there, but there is no refuge for women and children.

See this speech in context