Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to say a few words on these important statements on International Women's Day. I wish all women, men, children and those who are suffering in Ukraine at present well. I do not think "Happy women's day" is the proper expression, but I wish them well in difficult circumstances.

We have come a long way. I have listened carefully to the debate so far. Despite what people say, we have come a long way from where we were. We needed to as well, because we were a long way down the list. We can think of the suffragette movement across Europe, the United States and in this country and the long road the women had to travel. It was a long way, and it seemed as if it was going nowhere. We can think as well about how our society developed.

I wish to comment on one issue. There is a feeling that men are anti-women and violent towards women. That is not the issue. The issue is that we have become a more violent society. I have dealt with situations, as I am sure have the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and other Members, where people who are smaller in stature and weaker are set upon by people who are stronger and more robust and are callously attacked in an unacceptable way. Perhaps our society needs to learn, to pull itself up short and recognise that this is not the way to go. It most certainly is not the way to go. I am sorry that Deputy Barry is not here now because he was complimenting communism on the great work done in Russia and various other places over the past 70 or 80 years or so. I visited behind what was called the Iron Curtain. The women were working in the fields with spades, shovels and so forth. Communism did not do a whole lot for them either.

We need to recognise that this is an issue that affects everybody. The rights of women and the recognition of women affect everybody and must be addressed. It cannot continue as it is because it leaves half the population at all times feeling that they do not matter. In fact, women are slightly more than half the population. On days such as this we must remember people such as the late Monica Barnes and Nuala Fennell as well as Mary Flaherty, who is thankfully still with us, and the work they did. There is also Nora Owen, Avril Doyle, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn and numerous others who I have not time to mention. I keep thinking of other names. They did a great job. They came into the public arena and had something to say about it. They talked about the rights of women at a time when it was not popular to do so. They faced a little bit more.

I hope we have learned a little in the time since then and that we recognise the need to bring forward that half of the population who have been left behind to some extent. I compliment the women who are extroverts and who come into public life, like you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle - you did not think you were going to get away with that - and have something to offer. It is important that we listen to you, who has come from that particular starting point to where you are now. That is important. Harold Robbins wrote famously about an era that is somewhat similar to now. He wrote The Carpetbaggers, A Stone for Danny Fisherand many other books, which we used to read when we were not supposed to read them. We did, and the fact is that we learned a great deal from them. We learned how society was going and how people were treated in society. We learned how people who did not have influence were treated in society. We absorbed all of that to the best of our ability, to the extent that in some of the things that are happening today we recognise what was happening then, all those years ago. While we did not resolve them all, we tried to resolve some of them.

Finally, it behoves us all to respect women. I will conclude with that. Respect for women is hugely important at present. It is to give an example and show that we do not support bullying, sexism or racism, all of which there is a lot of nowadays. We do not support ageism or all the other "isms" that we have had around us for a long time. We seem to take them as normal and to be accepted. None of those is acceptable. Everybody has rights. Everybody has the right to stand up and say their piece at any time and anywhere. I hope we have learned sufficient down through the years not to allow them but to ensure they can do that. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this issue.

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