Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Is léir go bhfuil dhá cheiliúradh an tseachtain seo, idir Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan agus Seachtain na Gaeilge. Cé go bhfuil iliomad dúshlán os ár gcomhair, tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuilimid ag caint faoinár ndul chun cinn. Sa Dáil seo, tá níos mó ban tofa mar Theachtaí Dála, agus cé gur rud dearfach é sin, is léir go bhfuil a lán le déanamh. Tá gá mór ann chun níos mó tacaíochta a thabhairt do mhná ionas go mbeidh níos mó ban sa pholaitíocht go gineareálta, sna local authorities agus i dTeach Laighean. I am glad to have the opportunity to be here today to mark International Women's Day. It is worth recalling its history because it was first marked by the socialist movements in the United States and in Germany, well over 100 years ago. Indeed, it was the Bread and Roses strike in Massachusetts in 1912 that fought for better wages, shorter working hours and respect for women in the workplace that has commenced that true marking of International Women's Day that we have had ever year on 8 March.

I know many people will use the world "celebrate" for International Women's Day and, in some ways, I prefer to say the word "mark" that day because it feels that in 2025, in particular for many women in this country, we are going backwards, not forwards. When you look at women and mothers in the main bearing the brunt of the increase in our housing crisis and that three of every four families made homeless since the eviction ban was lifted are single parent families - the majority of these are mothers. They are bearing the brunt of the failure of this Government to ensure we have enough affordable housing in this country.

It is women and mothers, in particular, who are bearing the brunt of the shocking lack of access to therapies and supports for children with additional needs in this country. Last Friday, when families camped overnight outside the Department of Education, it was mainly mothers who were there. They are the people who are bearing the brunt, along with the children, of the shocking lack of support to families - the 2,596 families. Indeed, in my constituency of Dublin Central, they have an agonising wait for the assessment of needs, knowing it will take three to four years and, of course, it will be another three to four years before they have access to therapies. That is having an impact on the child, on the school environment and, of course, on family life.

Women and mothers, in the main, bear the brunt of the lack of childcare that we have in our country. I am glad to see the Minister is in the Department of children now but we have a huge amount of work to do - not just looking at affordability, which I know is the main focus of this Government looking at the programme for Government - on expanding the number of places. In the constituency I represent, affordability is an issue but the far bigger issue is that people cannot access places. In the survey we conducted last year and the year before, 40% of parents were waiting 18 months plus to try to get a childcare place. What impact does that have on women's working lives, on families' lives and on their ability to earn and pay their bills? It is having a really appalling impact on women's careers.

We talk about the gender pay gap. The lack of childcare contributes to that hugely. Approximately 30% of women in this country's workforce are in part-time employment. Some are there voluntarily but the vast majority are there because of the shortage of services, but with regard to childcare and elder care. We sometimes see figures put out that there is a 14% gender pay gap in this country; that is not accurate. It is far closer to 24% when you look at the gap between the weekly wage of the average male income relative to the average wage of a woman working in this country because it is both hours worked and the hourly rate that we have to look at. Of course, the pension pay gap is much greater again and is in excess of more than 30%.

What is shameful on the part of the previous Government and, indeed, the Department the Minister has now gone into, is that there was an opportunity and the potential to allow women, in particular, but men and women, the ability to have flexible work arrangements. We could have legislated for that. Instead, the Minister's Department has decided to legislate for a very narrow set of rights. There is a right to request remote work, which is not really worth the paper it is written on, and a set of flexible working rights that is confined to those caring for children under the age of 12 or for immediate family members. That is not good enough. It is not good enough when we consider that Ireland has the highest number of lone parents unemployed when you compare Ireland to every other EU member state.

It is not good enough when we consider that we in this country have the highest number of jobless disabled persons in the EU. The right to flexible work would have afforded an opportunity to these people to ensure they had a chance to get work and flexible work arrangements and ensure a higher income into their household. Yet, unfortunately, the previous Government and the Government of which the Minister is a part have walked away from that. I hope she will revisit that in time.

Many of us in this Chamber spoke last week on a motion on domestic and gender-based violence in this country. Many of us spoke about the experiences and the interactions we have had in particular with women who have been let down by our system in their interaction with An Garda Síochána. There are fantastic gardaí dealing with women in domestic violence situations, but the reality is that there are other gardaí who have not received the appropriate training. There is no mandatory training for front-line policing in this country with regard to domestic and gender-based violence. That is an issue.

It is an issue that we continue to have such a low number of refuge places. Ireland signed the Istanbul Convention in 2011. We had 131 refuge places then; we have 159 now. We are literally running to stand still. There is no meaningful increase in the number of refuge places in this country when we consider that our population has grown by almost half a million during that time. It is wrong that we have so few refuge places. The ambition and target of 240 places set out in the programme for Government is still woefully inadequate. Will the Minister take on responsibility for ensuring we have a far higher number of refuge places, not only in every county but within counties, to make sure there are a sufficient number of places?

I wish to highlight the issue of access to women's health services, in particular the treatment of endometriosis and the numbers of women who have to travel to Romania and other countries every year because of the lack of services in this country. Admittedly, there has been some marginal improvement, but we need to see an awful lot more improvement for a condition with which women have been suffering in silence for many years. A huge amount of work needs to be done there.

An issue close to my heart is the provision of, and State support towards, fertility treatment. While we now have State support in a way we did not previously, it is still very narrowly confined to a small number of women and couples. That needs to change because far too many people are being deprived of the right and opportunity to have a family because of the exorbitant cost of going through fertility treatment. We in the Labour Party brought forward a Bill in the Seanad - I know it was brought here to the Dáil as well - back in 2021. It provided for a right to workplace leave for those experiencing early miscarriage or those going through fertility treatment. The Minister's predecessor commissioned a report led by Professor Keelin O'Donoghue in UCC. That report set out very clearly what should happen and made a series of recommendations with regard to workplace leave for those experiencing early miscarriages. That report is sitting on a shelf and nothing has been done. That needs to change because of the number of stories that have come into my office, to the people around me and, I know, to many of my colleagues, and because of the demand that exists. People have gone through horrendous situations, such as going through early miscarriages, where the workplace has not provided for or recognised those. This was a campaign initiated by the INTO and it is important to pay tribute to it. We in the Labour Party will continue to pursue and to campaign for that Bill to be enacted. I hope the Minister will respond positively towards that.

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