Ms Maria Walsh:

I am delighted to be here. As the Cathaoirleach went through the committees of which I am a member, I want to touch briefly on the work I do on behalf of citizens across Midlands-North-West but, in particular, I want to feed into some of the key topics that I believe should be fundamentally involved in the Conference on the Future of Europe.

As many of the Members may know, the 2019 election was my first involvement in politics. Prior to that, I was involved in a lot of advocacy work speaking on issues such as marriage equality, women's rights and mental health of young people in particular. I very much attempt to carry that into my work within the European Parliament, talking about equality, diversity and inclusion in each file and amendment that I and my team put in.

Currently, I am working on two pieces of policy which I consider to be of the utmost importance for citizens, particularly for minority groups and women right across the Midlands-North-West constituency and the island. Last week in Strasbourg, I was a shadow rapporteur for the European People's Party on a piece of legislation which called on the Commission to establish gender-based violence as a European crime. This, in effect, would make gender-based crimes illegal in all EU countries.

Gender-based violence is a breach of human rights and it is happening in Ireland and across Europe. We need to legislate and take non-legislative actions that address these issues at a European level and across the EU, not just at home. With some of the EU countries unfortunately refusing to implement the likes of the Istanbul Convention and some activity regressing on the protection of human rights in other countries, we need to continue to call on the Commission to take action. Failing to do so and having an unco-ordinated approach on gender-based violence puts European women and girls at risk. We certainly cannot allow time to pass. I say that simply because if our young women and girls are travelling across Europe, their rights should also travel with them. This is true particularly for our younger men and women who travel as part of the Erasmus+ scheme.

I am also working as a shadow rapporteur to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work and work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and the enforcement mechanisms. One of the major obstacles to enforcing equal pay is the lack of pay transparency. As many, if not all, can agree, the gender pay gap is unjustified, unfair, and unfortunately will most likely grow, not shrink, due to Covid, with many more women than men taking time out to care for their families. I am sure that as an MEP for Midlands-North-West I am not the only representative who has heard that. No doubt, many of the Members are also hearing that in their constituencies. Across the EU, on average women get paid 14.1% less per hour than men. This translates into women having to work an additional 51 days to earn the same wage as their male colleagues. Fortunately, equal pay has been enshrined in Irish law for decades, but the reality is that the implementation can be very different, as it is across the EU. The recent Irish legislation on the gender pay gap is something that I will very much be using as a baseline, but also hoping to expand on it at EU level for this directive. As an example of the everyday changes that a small increase in transparency can make, it will potentially offer clear criteria for workers to ask their employer for information on their individual pay level and average pay levels broken down by sex for categories for workers performing the same work or work of equal value. I share that because I think it will be a key point in terms of fundamental rights coming into the Conference on the Future of Europe.

I also want to add a quick point on vocational education training. It is something I worked on before the summer. It is fundamentally important to Irish citizens and is an essential tool for young people and adults to find jobs after this pandemic that we have lived through. With many of Europe's employees and employers unable to find the right skills to fill vacancies, vocational skills have become one of the best ways to mould one's career. I certainly hope that if asked from the Floor, we can get into it a bit further.

I wish to add a note about the culture and education committee. It was music to my ears hearing the proposal announced by Ursula von der Leyen, during her state of the union address last week, that 2022 will be dedicated as a European year for youth. We all know that younger people face the greatest challenges coming out this pandemic, be it through continuing their education, entering the labour market and maintaining their social lives. Many students have lost their part-time jobs and fear greatly for their future. I certainly lived through such fear during the 2007 to 2008 financial crash. A European year is an opportunity to bring the needs and fears of young people to the forefront. I hope this feeds into the Conference on the Future of Europe coming from younger citizens not just from my constituency, but across the country.

Just before I conclude, as I am standing in front of the Members, I wish to flag that as the Cathaoirleach mentioned, I am co-chair of the two Parliament interest groups dedicated to mental health. I am very proud to be a rapporteur on a file entitled Mental Health in the Digital World of Work. This work will be done across the Parliament through all committees, ensuring that there is a cross-sectional approach to mental health in the digital world of work. Of course, I hope any feedback that Members may have feeds into it.Recently, we in the MEP Alliance for Mental Health wrote to national parliaments seeking support for the campaign to designate an EU year for good mental health. I acknowledge Senator Black, who kindly agreed to come on board as a champion for that.

As my colleague, Mr. Markey, concluded by expressing his sentiments on the Conference on the Future of Europe, I will do the same. During my election campaign in 2019, I was often asked what MEPs do and what the purpose of the European Parliament is. Over the course of the subsequent two and a half years, my knowledge has grown from connecting with people, particularly younger people. Nevertheless, we still have fundamental work to do, not just in Fine Gael or the EPP but throughout this House and next door. For many citizens, what they know about the EU comes in the form of Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, grants, funding for roads or the general data protection regulation, GDPR. In Ireland, we have become aware over recent years of the importance of EU solidarity due to Brexit. This conference is a unique and timely opportunity for citizens to engage with and examine the challenges and interests they have within the Union. Be it rural, urban, north, south, east or west, this is a perfect time for us to discuss as a country where we want to move forward in the Union. Given that I cover fundamental rights and social issues, which constitute the fabric of our society, I hope that moving forward there will be a stronger sense of them for younger people.