Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is genuinely great to hear inspiring debate, conversation and insight from every single one of my colleagues this morning. It was a good quality debate on a whole lot of aspects, particularly relating to International Women's Day. This is not just a pet for Christmas but something for life. It is fundamentally important. As the House knows, I am involved in business and I would say that 75% of all senior management is female. This is because they have a skill set, ability and talent to achieve. I wish to speak about the team of females who work with us. Ms Bridget Doody and her team are the backbone and they help us function and achieve what we aim to achieve. I ask that we all acknowledge the team of female support in leadership roles and others in the Seanad and the Dáil and what they do to help make this place function and be effective.

I have been very involved in entrepreneurship over a number of years and have chaired the entrepreneur of the year judging panel for years. We get quite a small number of female entrepreneurs coming forward and it is reducing a little. After the recession the number of entrepreneurs coming forward is reducing anyway. This is a big issue. People are afraid or are concerned about taking a leap or risk because they do not want to lose their house and everything that they have and they know what it is like to deal with the banks.I am asking everyone in this House to work collectively as a team. This is not political. We need to see what we can do to support entrepreneurship and to help male and, in particular, female entrepreneurs who have incredible ability to achieve in line with their talents. Unfortunately, I did not meet Nicky McFadden, but I have heard a lot about her.