Dáil debates

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality: Statements

 

7:32 pm

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the input from Deputies across the House during the debate. As has been generally identified, gender equality is a major challenge in our society. It continues to be a challenge within our society despite the progress that has undoubtedly been made in recent years. The recommendations from the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality give us a significant number of proposals, concepts and ideas to consider. The broad scope of the 45 recommendations we are discussing today has meant we probably will not have the opportunity to give each issue the attention it demands but the programme for Government makes a commitment to respond to each of them in detail, so no doubt we will return to each one as the Government's term continues.

I spoke earlier about the impact of Covid-19 on the work of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality but its report and recommendations are more timely than ever as we emerge from a pandemic that has changed so many aspects of the way we work and how we live. There is a recognition that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women, their working lives and their family lives. This time of great change has highlighted the inequalities that exist in our society and has made us all pause and consider how we want our society to work. The Government recovery measures are mindful of this and of the manner in which the pandemic has impacted with particular force on women and girls across our society. I will continue to work with my ministerial colleagues to ensure gender equality and all equality considerations are mainstreamed in policy decisions as we come back from the pandemic. Gender equality in decision-making is central to this, including here in the Houses, and it is imperative that we take a close look at what barriers exist for women in politics. I will discuss this more later on.

Many Deputies have raised domestic violence and Deputy Connolly did so before she left. One of the most concerning consequences of the social distancing measures and the wider measures in our response to Covid has been the rise in domestic violence or at least the rise in the number of cases reported to the Garda. As we know, women experience domestic violence to a vastly disproportionate degree. From the earliest days of the pandemic, my Department, An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice put in place additional measures to protect those most at risk and support those who were experiencing domestic violence. Deputy Connolly spoke very eloquently about how this State has not grappled with the issue of domestic violence with the degree of precision, and particularly with the degree of co-ordination across all elements of Government and of the State, that is necessary. The Government asked for an audit of which agencies, Departments and bodies were doing what, in recognition of the fragmented nature of the response. That audit has been published and it is critical of certain elements of the response. It is now the work of myself, my Department, the Minister for Justice and, probably most importantly, the groups active in this sector to collaborate to fashion our response, which will be an all-of-society response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Our commitment to this is represented in the significant additional investment we provided to Tusla in last year's budget. We secured a significant additional investment in Tusla in this year's budget as well and I am confident a proportion of that will go to increasing investment in domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services.

Deputy Connolly also referred to the issue of the lack of accommodation, be it refuge space or alternative safe accommodation. Deputy Murnane O'Connor spoke about the particular situation in County Carlow. The accommodation review will be essential in providing a clear roadmap for how the Government identifies those areas most in need of additional accommodation for people fleeing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and how the significant money allocated to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for the capital assistance scheme in the context of the national development plan can be appropriately targeted to the areas in greatest need. There is also the work the Department of Justice is doing on foot of the Supporting a Victim’s Journey report, following on from the rape trial in Belfast. The Minister for Justice has secured significant additional investment in this budget, so we are supporting victims, especially victims of domestic violence and sexual crime, while recognising the rigidities of the justice system often leave these victims most at risk. Again, significant additional investment has been provided in this context. This will combine with the development of the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which will be submitted to the Government by the end of this year.

I move to the matter of wider strategies for dealing with gender inequality.

In 2022, I will work to develop the next strategy for gender equality to succeed the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020. This work will begin with a consultation process, which will enable us to identify the most significant issues facing women and girls today and, from there, to develop appropriate active responses. I have no doubt that the recommendations that we are discussing here today will feed into that process, as they cut across women's lives and well-being.

The national strategy for women and girls is not the only equality strategy that concluded this year and one of the challenges for my Department in the coming months is the question of how to address the multiple facets of the identity of a person that make them subject to discrimination or inequality, that is, the intersectionality of equality issues, in all future strategies. This has come up in the context of the national strategy for women and girls and the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy in terms of the specific barriers that Traveller women face in society and likewise, that migrant women or LGBTI women face. We want to develop a new approach to the co-ordination of cross-government policy, which can encompass these concerns and address them through concrete, measurable aims and initiatives.

I recognise the importance of an Oireachtas committee to progress these recommendations. As we have heard in the debate about some of the recommendations on constitutional amendments, including the proposal to change Article 41.2, there are different views on how we proceed. Do we just act to delete or do we delete and replace? My preference would be to delete and replace with something that recognises care in the home and potentially care outside of the home as well. That said, Deputy Bacik spoke about the challenges that such an approach might meet. It is important that we have that discussion because that discussion in the previous Dáil prevented anything coming forward. Many Deputies have spoken about the need for action and the need to progress but when it comes to the amendment of our Constitution, we have to find a forum where we can come together and find the best way forward in order that we can secure the removal of the offensive language that remains in our Constitution.

I want to briefly refer to the issue of gender equality within the political sphere. I have always believed that using gender quotas for elections is appropriate. I know people have criticised the fact that in the 2020 general election we did not see a significant increase in the number of female Deputies elected. However, it is important to remember that in an election where there was a substantial turnover of Members of this House, we continued on the progress that had been made in the 2016 election, progress that I believe was very much linked to the introduction of gender quotas. I do not believe that the fact that we only saw an increase of one female Deputy in the 2020 election represents a condemnation of the use of quotas. As I said, there was a significant turnover of Deputies in the 2020 election. Many female Deputies lost their seats but a lot of female Deputies were elected as well.

The issue of maternity leave is crucial. The Minister for Justice's pregnancy threw the issue into particularly stark relief in this House but in addressing that, we must also look at addressing maternity leave on our county and city councils. In terms of where people are in the development of their political career and the sheer numbers involved, it is far more likely that introducing maternity leave for politicians at local government level will benefit more women who are at a stage in their life where they are more likely to be pregnant. Of course, that is not to say that it should not be done in this House and in the Seanad too; it absolutely should. However, it must be done in a way in which the representative function is provided for. It is not just the issue of the time off or the benefit, but also the issue of being able to properly reflect the fact that women are elected and many will become pregnant and that this should be recognised as part and parcel of life and provided for in supports and provisions to ensure their representative votes at county and city councils and in the Dáil and Seanad are respected.

I thank Deputies for their contributions to this debate. I look forward to elements of this report being advanced in my Department, in other Departments and in Oireachtas committees in the future.

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