Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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213. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on the outcomes of the public consultation process for the National Strategy for Women and Girls, conducted earlier this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36388/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, commits my Department to publish and implement an updated National Strategy for Women and Girls. My Department is currently working to fulfil that commitment. A stakeholder consultation was completed at the end of 2024. This included a series of in-person consultations with representations from across civil society as well as an online survey which included both civil society organisations and members of the public.

IPSOS B&A were contracted to carry out the consultation for the Department and helped design the online survey, which sought to gather opinions and perspectives from the public on a range of issues which are pertinent to the interests of women and girls. The deadline for responses on the survey was extended to the 14th October 2024. Additionally, there was also the option to submit a more comprehensive response directly to IPSOS B&A.

The survey asked respondents to consider socio-economic equality between women and men; the physical and mental health of women and girls; visibility of women and girls in public society; the accessibility of the workplace to women; domestic, sexual and gender-based violence; and a range of other themes which relate to the welfare and interests of women and girls. The survey questions were informed by the priorities of the outgoing strategy but also reflect more current concerns.

The three areas most identified as having improved for women and girls over the past seven years were visibility of women and girls, physical and mental health of women and girls, and participation of women in leadership positions in politics, in public life and in the workplace.

The three areas most identified for prioritisation over the coming five years were domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, socio-economic equality between women and men and the physical and mental health of women and girls.

A National Youth Assembly was convened in September 2024 to attain the views of young people on priorities for inclusion in the new strategy. This assembly was specifically designed to provide young people with an opportunity to discuss how gender inequality affects their lives, explore solutions, and make recommendations that could be integrated into national policy. Youth delegates at this event made recommendations across six key areas including education, health, sport and leisure, gender-based violence, women in leadership, and language and stereotypes.

Findings from these consultations have been compiled in reports and are currently under review by officials. Both reports are informing the development of the Next National Strategy for Women and Girls, which is at an advanced stage.