Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach is very welcome. As a member of the Fianna Fáil Party, I am proud to have him in the Chamber. The fact that he is taking time out of his challenging and busy schedule at this difficult time in our nation's history is much appreciated. It is a mark of the man he is that he would take the time to listen to everybody's views. I thank him for that.

I am particularly proud of the Government and his leadership of the Government, which has prioritised women's healthcare. We have seen revolutionary commitments to a free contraception scheme, menopause clinics, endometriosis clinics, safe access zone legislation and free period products, to name but a few.

Another area I wish to touch on briefly, which I have raised with the Taoiseach previously, as have some of my colleagues, is the lack of women's refuges. We have high levels of domestic violence in this country. The Covid crisis has seen women particularly impacted. Their financial well-being and their safety have been impacted. Too many women have died in their homes at the hands of current or former intimate partners. This is an issue we need to tackle as a society and we need a comprehensive roll-out of refuges. Eight counties have no refuges and the counties that do have refuges, they are completely oversubscribed. I hope the Taoiseach will prioritise that going forward.