Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome colleagues back for the new year and I express my sincere sympathies to Senator Deirdre Clune on the loss of her mother, the wife of the late Peter Barry, who achieved great things for this country, particularly in his work in Northern Ireland.

I refer to the inauguration this week of the US President, Barack Obama. I was struck by the number of things we have in common with elements mentioned in the President's speech. He pointed with great confidence to the green shoots of economic recovery in the United States. I was also struck, on the same day, by the comments of IBEC, which noted that Ireland, too, was seeing signs of recovery in the domestic economy. Today we had news that house prices have stabilised, which is good news for the economy, as well as word from both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in regard to moves to extend the term of maturity of our loans, which will also help the economy.

What was very inspiring about what President Obama said was his words to the effect of "A lot done; more to do". He highlighted the issue of equality in American society and I was struck by some of the issues he raised. This brought home the fact that on the same day the Irish Cancer Society stated that poor people in this country are twice as likely to die from cancer as people brought up in middle-class areas, which is down to nothing but their poverty and social inequality. What we do not need to have in the coming year, when we see signs of economic recovery, is business as usual. The reality is that during the Celtic tiger years these levels of society had almost the same amount of unemployment as they do today. We have a lot to do to change inequality in Irish society.

Another group in society specifically mentioned by President Obama was gay and lesbian people. He also highlighted the position of women. Again, we cannot stand up with any distinguished record when it comes to matters of equality for certain groups in our society. I would like to think that in the coming session, which we commence today, this Seanad will make significant strides to improve the position of those in society who face inequality, whether that be social and economic or based on their gender or sexual preferences. As a start to that agenda, will the Leader ask the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, to attend the House, not in the context of his brief on justice but of that on equality, in order that we may have a serious debate on inequality in our society? We face very trying times in regard to our own survival.