Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They say a woman's place is in the revolution and on the Continent of Europe, Ukrainian women are showing up to defend their country, freedom and values. They are an inspiration to women everywhere. More women have had to leave on foot or by car and train, taking elderly relatives and young children to safety to defend the next generation of Ukrainians. To those who will come to Ireland, I say tá fáilte romhaibh go léir. We are thinking too of a young Irish woman, Ms Racheal Diyaolu, from Carlow, who is fleeing to the border with Moldova to get back from Sumy.

Where are our values when all across the State we have carers, the majority of whom are women, effectively locked in their homes? They are on paltry supports, despite the billions of euro they save the State. Where was their voice last Saturday, when women rallied in Dublin? Where are the voices of the women who have contacted me to say they are shattered and hanging on by a thread because they have received an eviction notice and they and their children have nowhere to go? Our women carers are invisible women, wiped from public view because of poverty or disability in the family, leading to a precariousness in their position. Today, on International Women's Day, it is important we bring their voices to their Dáil. I say to them that change is coming.

When women can actually find childcare, and that is difficult enough to do in north Kildare, they have to pay the baby mortgage for it. That is generally for the privilege of earning a percentage of what their male counterparts earn. We women hand over our children, in the main to other women, to be minded. There is solidarity in that act and women who mind these children deserve to be paid well. Sinn Féin has a plan to reduce childcare costs by two thirds so there will be top quality, available, affordable and local childcare. We have seen the neon signs blazing. She believed she could do it but because she could not get childcare, she did not. Please do not let us be saying that again this time next year.

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