Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the House today as we mark International Women's Day. My immediate thoughts are with the women of Ukraine and the monumental challenges they are currently facing - the mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, wives, sisters-in-law and friends. Yesterday, I was very struck by a picture on the front of the Irish Independentof a mother and her four children. Out of context, it might appear like a normal picture of a mother taking her young children on a forest walk on a cold spring day. They are wrapped up in warm winter jackets and woolly hats. The eldest of the children is running forward, leading the way as the siblings eagerly follow behind and the mother helps her youngest along at the back. The image mirrors so closely the peaceful woodland walks we, as mothers and families, enjoy so much at this time of the year.

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The stark reality, however, is one few of us can comprehend. This woman and mother, who had lightly said goodbye to her husband for possibly the last time just days earlier, was fleeing the carnage the war had brought to her home, to her very doorstep. In the photograph she is guiding her four children over an isolated train track through a Ukrainian forest to a border crossing in south-east Poland. She is the only one carrying a small backpack with provisions for the five of them. Such expeditions are being undertaken by women and children throughout Ukraine as 2 million people have fled from the borders in what is now the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. I believe it is only right on International Women's Day that we recognise the fortitude and bravery of so many courageous Ukrainian women who have been charged with the gravest of responsibilities to navigate literal life-and-death situations while keeping their children and elderly loved ones safe as their partners are forced to go to war.

On Sunday, I joined many colleagues and the people of Waterford when we met Ukrainian refugees who had come into the county only the day before. I spoke through an interpreter to one couple who had managed to bring five children to safety and I will never, ever forget the woman's face - her picture was in the media yesterday - and that look of fear and exhaustion, of sheer distress and terror, knowing she had left her mother and her elderly grandmother behind in Ukraine and may not see them again. The women of Ireland and around the world should take inspiration from these women's strength in facing our own challenges here at home.

Gender-based violence is still a scourge in our society. Combating all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a huge personal priority. The terrible murder of Ashling Murphy was a chilling reminder to us that, as a national community, we face the harsh reality that many women in Ireland are, unfortunately, living in fear of violence. We must reflect deeply on that and the picture it portrays of our so-called modern society if women do not feel safe in their own communities. Our goal has to be very clear: zero tolerance of violence and abuse against women. Everyone has a contribution to make to this movement, which needs to start from the ground up and requires a whole-of-society approach. We must not and cannot accept the normalisation of fear and harassment and violence against women to any degree. We cannot be bystanders; we must call out all misogyny, intimidation and violence against women wherever and whenever we witness it.

I wish to touch on the announcement today by the Minister for Health on the Women's Health Action Plan 2022-2023. This morning, following the launch of the plan in Dublin Castle, I visited the Rotunda Hospital. As Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, I just felt like going there and meeting the perinatal mental health team that is in place. I am delighted that all 19 perinatal mental health midwives are in place across the country. This is a hub-and-spoke approach. Today I met the multidisciplinary team in the Rotunda. There are ten members of the team. I was absolutely shocked to hear that 9,200 babies were born in the Rotunda last year but approximately 2,000 women looked for mental health supports. The perinatal mental health midwives are in place to support people before, during and after pregnancy, for up to 12 months. It is important to get the good news out as well, and I am delighted that we now have 75 clinicians working in perinatal mental health throughout the country together with the 19 midwives. I felt that today, on International Women's Day, it would be nice to go along and thank the team for all the work they are doing. It would be remiss of me not to think of all those who have worked on the front line for the past two years. Gabhaim buíochas leo go léir.

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