Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Guím Seachtain - nó coicís - na Gaeilge faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise ar gach éinne, agus guím Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise ar na mná ar fad atá anseo. I understand that women staff and students are picketing NUIG today as part of an international women's strike in more than 50 countries and that issues concerning gender equality in NUIG are far from sorted and may in fact be deteriorating. Despite lots of talk of change and new initiatives being announced at the university, it appears that the underlying issues that gave rise to a number of high profile court cases have not been adequately addressed and that things may in fact be getting worse.

I understand that relations between senior management and the unions on resolving issues such as grading of staff, promotions, pay and working conditions have made very little progress and that the staff representatives are concerned by the lack of substantive action from the university. Despite the appointment of a gender equality task force and a vice president for equality, the basic issues of institutional discrimination across all grades of staff remain unresolved and SIPTU reports an increasing number of women coming to the union for help. SIPTU is now in dispute with NUIG on a number of issues, including the senior lecturer promotion scheme, which was the subject of the Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington, Equality Tribunal ruling, and which five other women are contesting before the courts.

SIPTU did not co-operate with the gender equality task force set up by NUIG because of concerns over its independence and it has highlighted crucial flaws in the report. It said at the time that it needed action not optics. It is now two years since the Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington tribunal case. It is my understanding that staff representatives believe that more than two years has been spent trying to engage with senior management in NUIG, which has frustrated efforts to seek proper resolution to issues and which fundamentally failed to acknowledge that this is a very serious issue that must be addressed properly.

I would not be surprised if we were to see more cases of gender inequality in NUIG coming to the fore in the near future. I will call on the president, Jim Browne, and his staff to engage in a more constructive way to ensure that his legacy is not one of having presided over widespread discrimination in a university that prides itself on research excellence in fundamental human rights. A report was carried out by the HEA which was chaired by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn from my home village. I called for a debate previously on gender equality at third level. It would be appropriate that when we are celebrating International Women's Day the Leader would give a commitment to have such a debate in the very near future.