Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It struck me when reading this report that there seems to be a solution that would address most of these recommendations, that is, proper funding of our public services. This is, again, an argument of ideology. The Government's pro-market thinking that the private market will provide is extremely flawed. It is not good enough to expect the private sector will fulfil the public need. The Government is elected to provide the public with the services they require. It is not elected to allocate this responsibility elsewhere and for there then to be no accountability when things go wrong. We need to stop the constant privatisation of our services. We need to fund our public services properly to provide the public with what they need and the Government needs to be accountable for these services.

In terms of how this can have a huge impact on gender equality, one of the recommendations of the report is that a publicly funded, accessible and regulated model of childcare be established. The fact that Ireland is one of the world's most expensive countries in the world for childcare and that families are forced to spend half their salaries on childcare services is nothing to be proud of. This disproportionately affects women who are unable to return to the workforce after their maternity leave due to the fact it simply would not be worth it to pay such high rates of childcare. Many who work in childcare are forced to work for minimum wages despite having studied to get a degree to enable them to work in that sector. There is no way we can empower women or create a gender equal society without addressing this fact.

I support the call to extend gender quotas to local, Seanad and European elections, but I feel this should go even further to include quotas for women of ethnic minorities and women with disabilities in correlation with the population. I would love to see this Parliament as a true reflection of our society and its make-up. Sadly, that is not the case at the moment. We need to provide all the support necessary to ensure this happens. We need to consider the reasons women do not get involved in politics and take real steps to change that. Leaving aside the party political system, one such reason is the fact elected representatives are not entitled to maternity leave. That is an absolute disgrace in this day and age. I commend my colleague, Senator Eileen Flynn, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for taking a stand for all women who are not given their maternity leave by taking that time off. It is important to show it is needed.

I support the Citizens' Assembly's call for constitutional changes and for stronger enforcement of laws and policies. The language in the Constitution should not be gender-specific and should oblige the State to take measures to support care within the home. I also support the call for the appointment of a victims' and survivors' commissioner and for the development of guidelines and specialist training for judges and lawyers with regard to the treatment of victims and survivors. Spending on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence needs to increase massively. Everyone has the right to live a life without violence and abuse and we need to do all we can to support victims of violence and abuse. Again, this can only be achieved through proper funding of public services. The report states "Our recommendations call for better public services and improved social protection". It further states this should be funded through reprioritisation between current spending and revenue raising and greater efficiency and accountability for public funding. Privatisation takes away the opportunity for proper Government accountability for public spending. It is clear that gender equality cannot be achieved without first addressing this fact. That is most important.

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