Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House for what is one of the most important debates we have had here in a long time. The murder of Ashling Murphy has brought a focus on this issue. It should not have taken such an event for this to happen. I commend the Minister on her very much hands-on approach to this issue, not just in the past couple of weeks but since she took up her position as Minister for Justice. We are very lucky to have her in that role. I believe she will ensure a difference is made.

It is critical for the men in this House to stand up and speak on this issue. The statistics show that 25% of women have suffered from domestic and sexual abuse. That means that of five female friends — we all have five female friends — at least one, and possibly two, will have suffered in this regard. That is totally unacceptable. What is also totally unacceptable is the culture that has pertained over the years in respect of women's access to healthcare, education, equal pay and justice. It is not acceptable that women have to fight for everything. Graphs and statistics show that even in the private sector, women are underpaid by comparison with men. That should not be acceptable, allowed or tolerated. We have a job of work to do. If we all put this at the top of our agenda and are prepared to roll up our sleeves, we will make a difference, because we have to make a difference. It is critical. Society also has to change and that can only happen through education, by removing the stereotyping of women with pink dolls and men having blue. All of that type of narrative needs to go. If we are trying to create a truly equal society, it has to start with young children in primary school having respect ingrained in their curriculum and in their activities every day of the week. It also needs to extend to families, and that is where society plays a role. People are influenced. It is said that something like 70% of your character is established and developed by the age of four or five. That means we need to really work to ensure that the message of equality is in primary schools and crèches and that it then percolates up along the line.

As a country, we should be ashamed of ourselves in terms of how we have treated women, but also how we have treated members of the Travelling community. The absolute discrimination that takes place against members of the Travelling community in this country is horrendous, particularly Traveller women. It is appalling. We have plenty of discrimination against non-nationals who come to work in this country - the new Irish - and we saw it manifested in the presidential election in 2018. What happened in that election was an indictment but it is symptomatic of an attitude, an approach and a view.

As someone with a disability, I talk with some little bit of personal experience of how people with disabilities have been treated in this country, particularly women with disabilities. It is shocking. We look at a situation where 85% of people with disabilities in this country are unemployed and cannot get work. What kind of a society is that? It is simply not good enough.

What has happened in the last month, in my view, has created a conversation that should have happened years ago but it is happening now. We need to see fundamental change, led by the Government but embraced by society and promoted by our education system, community groups and sporting organisations. Every single person in this country has a role to play. Every single man in this country has a role to play. We all have to do better, and we all have to commit to doing better. Let the death of Ashling Murphy be the start of a complete and fundamental rebooting of our society and our attitude in society to women, to minority groups, to members of the Travelling community, to people with disabilities, to people who are gay and bisexual, and so on. Every person in this country is equal. Every person is born equal. They need to go through their lives as equal people. When they retire and pass on, they need to have lived a life of equality, where every man, woman and child in this country is treated with respect and treated as an equal. Until we achieve that, we cannot really be proud of the last 100 years as an independent society.