Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We give universal child benefit but only until a child reaches the age of 18. A woman stops being a mother when the child turns 18 according to the State because that is when the paltry amount of money stops being paid. We do not pay women who do not have children. They have to go out and earn money and by doing so, as the article states, neglect the home. There is no place for that kind of language and judgment. Working women make a massive contribution to society as teachers, doctors, sisters, daughters, engineers, lawyers, singers and politicians. Some of them do so as mothers too. The State does little to value women. We have gender inequality in the workplace, in our board rooms and in our homes. We need to change how we talk and think. I attended a funeral recently of a much loved member of the community whom I knew well. The woman was recalled as a mother and a grandmother but she was so much more than that. She was a gardener, a decorator, a singer in the kitchen when she thought nobody was listening, an activist, a fundraiser, a carer, a great supporter, a teacher and a writer. She was hundreds of things and these were boiled down to two.

It is time we free ourselves from old ways of thinking, open the kitchen door and let women out by removing this article from the Constitution in its entirety. We should allow women who stay at home to apply to the State for a wage and we should continue to pay child benefit until a child has left the home and started earning money. We should stop this nonsense of a woman having a place. She can be in any place she wants. I welcome the proposed referendum. It is important the Minister addresses the House on the matter in September.