Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is just that I want to read my statement into the record. I thank everybody for their contributions. Unfortunately, I will not have the time to address the various issues raised and points made, all of which are of benefit to me in the position I am in as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I will take all of those on board and may speak to some Members individually about some of the topics they raised, but I thank them very much for their contributions. It is good to see so many of them here. It is also good to see so many men here as well. There were three contributions from male speakers, which is important.

Before I make my statement, I want to acknowledge the men, and Senator Bacik touched on this earlier, who have helped women over the past 100 years. It is not always a case of being anti-men, and it is important that we acknowledge that.

I refer to the progress that has been made in providing equal opportunities for all but as I stated earlier, we have a long way to travel. To this end, the ambitious programme for Government commits to developing a new integrated framework for social inclusion, which will outline measures to help eliminate any persisting discrimination on grounds of gender, age, family status, marital status, sexual orientation, race, disability, religion or membership of the Traveller community.

We are committed to specifically further empowering women by building on the legislation passed by this House to encourage increased female participation in politics. An updated national women's strategy will further promote women's participation in decision making. We will empower women to ensure that households headed by women are no longer at high risk of poverty. We will take measures to reduce the gender pay gap, increasing investment in child care reviewing the lower pay of women and gender inequality for senior appointments.My colleagues in Cabinet and I are also actively promoting, and some Senators raised it here, increased female representation on State boards to at least 40%. I am pleased to say that the average female representation on the boards of the bodies under the remit of my Department exceeds 50%. We are also promoting wage transparency, a strengthened role of the Low Pay Commission in respect of the gender pay gap and in work poverty, training opportunities for self development and work related skills to assist a return to the labour market and promote entrepreneurship and an increased level of female participation in our Defence Forces, with the goal of doubling the rate from 6% to 12% over five years.

In the context of the centenary of this landmark year for women, my Department is keeping close contact with the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Vótáil 100 programme. I acknowledge the hard work of the Chair, Senator Bacik and all the members of the committee here. It has a monthly programme of activities leading up to commemorating the First Dáil in January 2019. While it is clear that our own national journey failed women for far too long, today, on the eve of International Women's Day, we pay our respect to all those women who flew the flag for women's participation in Irish political life in the years since Independence.

In marking the distance we have travelled in more recent years, it is incumbent on us to remember them well, to cherish their contribution and to build on it into the future. We recall once again Countess Markievicz's words, this time spoken in Dáil Éireann in March 1922 on a debate on women's franchise:

This question of votes for women, with the bigger thing, freedom for women and opening of the professions to women, has been one of the things that I have worked for and given my influence and time to procuring all my life whenever I got an opportunity. I have worked in Ireland, I have even worked in England, to help the women to obtain their freedom. I would work for it anywhere, as one of the crying wrongs of the world, that women, because of their sex, should be debarred from any position or any right that their brains entitle them a right to hold.

Let us not forget those words. Gabhaim buíochas libh go léir.