Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. International Women's Day is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is an important day for women, and for us men, because gender equality benefits everybody and is identified by the UN as the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. According to the latest report of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, published last week, for the first time in history not a single functioning parliament in the world is male only. The participation of women in parliament has never been as diverse and representative as it is today. This is good news but still only 23% of our Deputies and 39% of Senators are women. We still have some way to go towards a gender balance in our national Parliament that is truly reflective of Irish society.

The theme of International Women's Day this year is a celebration of women driving digital innovation and technological advancement. We live in a digital world where we depend on digital tools and processes for everyday things, but advancing technology is also introducing new forms of inequality and there is a real gender gap in our digital world. International Women's Day recognises the women and girls who are champions for the advancement of technology and calls for a safer, more inclusive and fairer digital future for us all.

Today is a day of celebration. As we know, women have helped change the world in so many ways. In keeping with the theme of this year's International Women's Day, let us embrace equity and build a better world for women that is better than what we have today.