John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was just thinking as Deputy Cathal Crowe was speaking that the issue of gender equality crosses into so many areas of our lives. When I was Dublin spokesperson for my party in the previous Dáil, I took a particular interest in cycling. There is quite a body of literature that shows that particular innovations and infrastructure have to be put in place to enable and encourage more women to cycle.

It goes to Deputy Cathal Crowe's point that some research indicates that when young girls are cycling it can be seen as more of a male pursuit so they fall out of the habit. There are things we can do infrastructurally to address this, specifically by separating cycle tracks from the main road. Women certainly feel an awful lot safer and experience far fewer catcalls and less abuse when that kind of infrastructure is put in place. I did not think I was going to come in today and talk about cycle lanes in relation to this issue but it gives an indication that to make the experience of cycling in a city equal for everybody, certain things have to be done and certain innovations have to be implemented.

I must give credit where credit is due. Some taoisigh pass through their office and leave very little imprint on the public mind. One of the legacies of former Taoiseach Enda Kenny is the citizens' assembly model. That was his innovation and it was looked at in a jaundiced way by some Members, although certainly not by myself. They wondered was the Dáil not a citizens' assembly. We know that sometimes, the Dáil finds it incredibly difficult to make challenging decisions. The Citizens' Assembly has enabled the Dáil to do just that on two or three occasions and I hope we follow through as regards the report of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I also pay tribute to its chairperson, Catherine Day.

Each of us can ask what have we done to further gender equality. The issue of political representation has come up. I am particularly proud to have done everything in my power in my own constituency to promote women at local electoral area level, which is the first step into national politics. I note that, as a result of me having gone out directly seeking female candidates to run and represent the party at local level, 50% of my party grouping on South Dublin County Council are women. I do not think my party has replicated that in any other constituency in the country so I am particularly proud of that.

I am a member of the Select Committee on Budgetary Oversight and in the previous Dáil, we recommended including a gender statement in each budget, which the Minister for Finance is now implementing. We recommended that be done because some of the decisions taken by previous Governments had disproportionate effects on women. Most notably, some of the measures brought in by the former Minister for Social Protection in 2011 disproportionately affected women over men. The whole idea behind gender budgeting and equality budgeting is to ensure that, in the future, no measure or policy decision taken by a Minister for Finance can do such a thing. Every decision on budgets has to be assessed from a gender and equality perspective across the spectrum before they are implemented.

The issue of universal childcare was mentioned by Deputy Bacik and others. I agree wholeheartedly with them. In order for women to access the workplace, and therefore access all the different hierarchical structures in the workplace, universal childcare must be in place. As part of the next challenge, that must include children with special needs. Their parents should be afforded exactly the same opportunity as parents of children with no specific special needs.

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