Mary White (Fianna Fail)

To clarify, I am not criticising the Minister. I would just like him to hear what I am saying.

On a survey of 100 households in the North and the attitudes of men and women to participation in the workforce, the general consensus was that people in society now agree that women fully deserve to participate in the workforce, of which half are women, not only for economic independence but for economic necessity; they have to pay today's high mortgages. However, when a survey was done on men's participation in housework activities, excluding child care and leisure, it was found that men only did 5.92 hours of housework whereas women did 17.15 hours. We are talking about equality in the workplace but from this survey done in Northern Ireland, the results of which I believe would be the same here, women are still carrying the burden of child care and housework.

We talk about a cultural change but I was very surprised by the remarks made by two Deputies last week on the Council of Europe and as a Senator I want to pick up the points raised. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe said that——