Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Last year the Government marked International Women's Day by announcing that it would be holding a referendum to remove the constitutional reference to a woman’s role in the home, and that it would take place this year on International Women's Day. Here we are three years after the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, and with completely different language from what was recommended. I said when the referendum date was announced, and I will say it again, that holding these referendums on International Women’s Day reeks of a cynical PR move by the Government. The amount of confusion and sheer misinformation circulating ahead of the referendum votes this week comes down to a failure by the Government. The process of these referendums was rushed from start to finish, all because the Government was determined to remove the "woman in the home" clause of the Constitution on International Women's Day. The rush to meet this deadline has led to debates being cut short, rising confusion among voters, and even to An Post being unable to deliver information booklets to voters in time. Why on earth did the Government not prioritise a clear and coherent explanation of the referendums and their legal ramifications, rather than the symbolism of holding the referendums on 8 March?

In this week every year we have statements on gender equality in this House. We discuss the steps we need to take to achieve true equality. Unfortunately, we can all recycle and reuse our speaking notes year on year because the same problems always remain. So here I go again. Our abortion services are still not up to standard. Women waited generations for abortion services in Ireland but people are still forced to go abroad, and they are intimidated outside GP clinics.

Marie O'Shea finalised the review of the abortion legislation in April of last year. Her recommendations could not have been clearer. She said the mandatory three-day waiting period needs to be removed, the threatened criminalisation of doctors needs to end and there needs to be more clarity when it comes to providing abortion care in cases of foetal abnormalities.

All of these recommendations were approved by the health committee, but Government has not acted. Why? When will this Government amend the law to remove needless and condescending barriers to vital healthcare?

Many aspects of women's and girls' healthcare need research and resources. Every aspect of menopause from medical to economic is understudied and under-resourced. We need accessible HRT and we need training for GPs. Crucially, we need to provide information about the reality of perimenopause and post-menopause to women so we know and understand the symptoms. Women suffering with hyperemesis still cannot receive a prescription from their GP for life-changing medicine to relieve the chronic condition. Access to home births is still completely inadequate, with the lack of care choice causing unnecessary medical interventions and trauma, and costing some families thousands of euro to access home births privately.

When I raised the issue of family homelessness in this debate last year, one-parent families made up 55% of homeless families, despite making up just 20% of families in Ireland. Now, one-parent families make up 75% of all families entering homelessness since the eviction ban was lifted, according to the National One Parent Family Alliance. Of course these rising figures only scrape the surface of the true problem, because they only take into account the families accessing emergency accommodation and not those families returning to cramped childhood homes with parents, or relying on the kindness of friends.

The biggest decrease we have seen in child and family homelessness was while the eviction ban was in place - that is a fact - but the Government lifted it anyway. The failure to reinstate the eviction ban, to tackle the issue of family homelessness and to reduce poverty rates among one-parent families are all vital women’s rights failures that the Government could and should be tackling. Instead, they continue to spiral on a downward trend.

Government provision of domestic violence refuge spaces is another thing I wish to raise, as I do every year. It is still completely inadequate. Under the Istanbul Convention, Ireland should be providing at least 515 refuge spaces. We currently have 141. Cuan, the new agency dedicated to tackling and reducing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, has been tasked with doubling the number of refuge spaces, falling well below what is needed. Announcing that pitiful target, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, told the Irish Independentthat “we have to be realistic about what we can achieve” by the end of 2026. I say we have to be realistic about how they are failing victims of domestic violence. The Government's new domestic violence leave is half of the international standard and provides for only five of the ten days required.

There is a lot of discussion this week around the role and recognition of family carers. Every one of those carers provides an invaluable service to this State but the State does not, and has never, rewarded them for it and has never really supported them to carry out care. Respite services are literally nowhere to be found and the carer's allowance is pitiful and restrictive. I believe it is the State’s responsibility to provide care to those who are ill. I believe it is the State’s responsibility to provide affordable childcare. I believe it is the State’s responsibility to provide disability services. The Taoiseach's flippant comment the other day that the care of children and the elderly is not the State’s responsibility was tone deaf and showed a lack of any understanding of the struggles families in Ireland go through. From childcare, to disability services, to caring for older parents, the State provides only a fraction of the support required. The remainder of that responsibility falls on the family carer who is most often a woman.

International Women’s Day is a day of celebration but it is also an exercise in frustration. Year after year, I raise the same issues. I hope that next year I will not be standing here documenting how all these issues have been ignored yet again. In the little time this Government has left, I hope it will take concrete steps to improve women's healthcare, domestic violence supports and supports for carers, but I am not holding my breath.

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