Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in expressing my condolences to the family of Emma Mhic Mhathúna. It was such a tragic death. For those of us who were outside Leinster House when the funeral cortège passed, it was unspeakably sad. I also join Senators in marking International Day of the Girl. In the Seanad and in Leinster House we are celebrating the centenary of women's suffrage in Ireland with the Vótáil 100 programme and an exhibition in the Seanad antechamber. We have to remember that for many girls and women worldwide their gender is still a source of oppression, discrimination and poverty. Plan International Ireland highlights the low levels of education and high levels of poverty of many girls, particularly in developing countries worldwide. We need to bear that in mind and work as much as we can to ensure the day means something and is not just a symbolic gesture. We need to advance measures to challenge and address gender discrimination.

We have had budget statements but last night in the Dáil my colleague, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, spoke about the need to advance the equality proofing of budgets in future years. I ask the Leader for a debate on the equality proofing of budgets and on mechanisms around proofing them in respect not only of gender but also of poverty and disability to ensure we move beyond token references and achieve real progress on the issues.

I also call for a stand-alone debate on climate change, given the very disappointing lack of action to address climate change in the budget, in particular the absence of any increase in carbon tax, despite it being flagged. Environmental groups such as Stop Climate Chaos and Friends of the Earth have raised this and the budget was very disappointing from that point of view.

I ask the Leader for a debate on press freedom. This week we saw the brutal murder of Viktoria Marinova, a journalist in Bulgaria, which is being investigated by Bulgarian authorities. This follows on two other murders of investigative journalists in EU countries, namely, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017 and Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak in February 2018. Very serious concerns have been expressed by the international Committee to Protect Journalists about these attacks on press freedom and I know the concerns are strongly shared by the National Union of Journalists in Ireland.