Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Guím Lá Fhéile Bríde sona ar gach duine anseo. Is é sin an Lá Fhéile Bríde deireanach nach mbeidh lá saoire poiblí againn.

Finally we will have a public day of recognition for the first female saint in Ireland. It is about time because, to be honest, we are all saints. We need a lot of patience. I am sure I wreck some people's heads. I will give as good as I get. It is good that we acknowledge the day.This brings me to something about which I feel very strongly. It came up during the week in the newspapers. I thank Cathy Halloran for the piece she did. It is something I worked on in my previous job. There are ten times more boys than girls cycling to school in Ireland. This is not based on physiology or any challenge faced. Even though it seems like a small thing it is massive. We really need to look at it. Why do ten times more boys than girls cycle to school? Are they ten times as good at cycling? Absolutely 100% not. It says a lot about society that teenage girls do not feel like cycling compared with teenage boys. There are many reasons for it including social issues.

A big issue I will mention briefly is that many girls schools still have mandatory skirts. Girls in 2022 are not allowed to wear trousers. It is an absolute disgrace. I will do a national call. I hope to do something whereby all of the female politicians will stand up and demand that every girl in 2022 has the right to go to school with a pair of pants on. It is a very basic thing. It is embarrassing that we have to ask for it in this day and age. We have a female Minister for Education. I really hope we can work together on this. It is embarrassing for me as an aunt to young girls and as someone who knows women and girls in their teenage years and in their 20s. I am embarrassed we still have many schools throughout Ireland that do not allow the girls to wear pants. It influences how they cycle.

This brings me to my next point. Next week we will celebrate Science Week. I will be encouraging women in science because I did maths and physics myself. We do not even have girls cycling bikes. We do not have them wearing pants. We have a long way to go. This is a very basic ask and we need to work on it. I am sure everybody here will support me on this. It is embarrassing in 2022. It is our legacy. We are the middle-aged people now. We are the older people. We owe it to the younger generations to break it. My mother was not allowed wear pants until she was 18 but that was 70 years ago. We are saying the same to young girls now. With this comes the fact that girls can move around and be independent.

In this day and age even though we are finally celebrating a female saint, women are still the primary carers. They are the ones left on the school run. They are left trying to do the cycle bus, the walking bus and the get-them-out-the-door bus. To this end we see that infrastructure does not support them. We really lack active travel and proper infrastructure. Red paint on the side of the road is not enough. We know the Department has given all of the funding needed for local authorities. On this day as a feminist, a woman, a mother and a carer who wants better for the next generation I ask the local authorities to take this seriously. It is a gender-based issue. We need the confidence to use infrastructure. The local authorities have the money. They need to up their game. I wish everyone the best of luck for Lá Fhéile Bríde. I hope the Minister, Deputy Foley, will take seriously my demand for the basic right to wear trousers to school.