Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this topic. I think of my late mother, Mary, who reared nine of us, six boys and three girls. She was a powerful woman who instilled all of the values that I carry with me today. Indeed, I think of people like Carrie Acheson, iar-Teachta Dála, who was here for a short time in the 1980s. She was a powerful woman and a visionary. I think of Helen Ní Craith, a wonderful visionary who decided to build a naoínra in my little village of Caisleáin Nua. I was delighted to be able to assist. It is now a flourishing institution where the daltaí óga, from the cradle up to five years of age, in their early childhood years, are learning through the medium of Irish. It is a wonderful institution. I think of Úna Ó Murchú, bean chéile le Labhrás, iar-Seanadóir agus stiúrthóir of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and people like that.

I think of people today like Tina Barrett of Cahir and Samantha Bray of Ardfinnan. They are two women who are fighting heroic battles to try to get school places for their children because both have a child with special needs. Why should this be? Each year, all of us in the House deal with these cases. They are fighting, fighting, fighting. It is so unfair to those people. Tina Barrett and her husband, and Samantha Bray and her family, have to agonise and have to be on Facebook or out lobbying, like the women who came up last week to the Department with their children. People who have children with special needs should be looked after. I think of Cara Darmody losing her childhood campaigning for services for her two brothers who have profound autism. That should not be in this world today.

I must praise my own wife for putting up with me for all of these years - 41 years now. We have five daughters and three sons, and 13 beautiful grandchildren, including two in the past two months, and ten of them are little angels, or little baby girls. We are blessed to have them all. How privileged I am to live in such a society.

Politics is going backwards, however. The debate today and the rancour here are not very nice. I see the latest political party, Independent Ireland. When they were trying to get their grubby hands on finances to fund their party, they put up token ladies, four of them in all. They just put up names and registered them as candidates. That is an insult and an abuse of women, as far as I am concerned, and it should not be happening. Is that the kind of politics we are going to have just to gain political funding because they have to have a quota? I never agreed with the quota system in the first place but to think that Deputy Collins, as leader, would do that with his own sister and, indeed, his own partner, and others as well just to get political funding.

Then, they do not think of stopping our speaking rights here. My colleague who has just spoken so eloquently and Deputy Carol Nolan are two female members of our group and they were denied speaking rights. When dishing out the compliments and praise, think of what they are trying to do to silence other female colleagues in this party.

That also goes for Sinn Féin and Labour, given the way they treated the Ceann Comhairle, our newly-elected female Member, on the first day of the Dáil. It was shameful.

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