Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On this occasion of marking International Women's Day, I wish all the very best to mná na hÉireann, and to women across the world. Despite this being the second quarter of the 21st century, we have so many issues that still need to be resolved. It is absolutely shocking. It needs to be called out at any level. Obviously, women are well able to do it for themselves, but there is a litany of abuses in Ireland and beyond that need to be referenced, so I will refer to some of them now.

We have a situation still ongoing in Ireland where workplace discrimination and sexual harassment remain concerns. We have the ongoing gender pay gap and workplace inequality. Women in Ireland still earn less than men on average, with a gender pay gap of approximately 12%. Childcare costs and work-life balance make it more difficult for women to return to work. Of course, women take a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, as we know.

Gender-based violence was referenced last week. It is appalling. I will not go into it again, but what else can we do to make Ireland a safer place? In terms of political representation, women in Ireland remain underrepresented. It is interesting that independent female candidates are among the lowest participation levels. There is a systemic problem that we have to look at. There are also housing and economic challenges, particularly for single mothers, and the online abuse and harassment that generally tends to be focused more on women.

Internationally, I could list a litany of countries where abuses occur towards women, be it India, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan or the despotic regime in Iran. Today, however, I will specifically focus on what is happening in Afghanistan, where women are now not even allowed to speak in public. They are treated as subhuman in that country. I know it is run by a fundamentalist regime, and we know the issues there, but at Irish governmental, EU and UN level, we need to be doing more to call these abuses of fundamental human rights out.

I also raise the fact that men need to call out misogyny more, including the types of - I referred to this during the motion on gender-based violence as well - behaviour that some of the online media influencers carry out that is influencing our teenagers. Equally, it needs to be called out at the highest levels of politics, where we have someone in the White House who abuses women. He is a muppet of President Putin who trash talks women, whereas his only claim is that he was once caricaturised as a piece of trash muppet on "Sesame Street". Then we have his sidekick who dislikes women who have no children and who like cats. That is the level of example we are being set from the shining example for the world. They have to be called out at any time. I would say this to President Trump or any of his misogynistic colleagues: treat women fairly and treat women well. In Ireland, we are not perfect, but we recognise an abuser when we see one. He needs to be called out whether he likes it or not.

I am not going to give any more time to that individual. This is a day for celebrating all the contributions that women in Ireland have done over many years. It was great to see Deputies pointing out the progress that had been made and the contributions of women to Irish society and the world. However, we also need to remember that there is more work that needs to be done.

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