Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 8 Mar 2023

Happy International Women's Day to you and to all here gathered. International Women's Day is the time to recognise and celebrate the strides taken by women towards gender equality and to reflect on the road ahead to travel. In Ireland much progress has been achieved and this has been secured by generations of women who stepped forward and demanded change, who stood up to be counted and to secure a better future for themselves, their daughters and their granddaughters. Let it be said that many women took a stand against governments and the Irish state who had brought so much hurt and harm to them and to generations of women. I think today of Vicky Phelan but also of every woman and all their families caught up in the cervical check scandal. I think of those that were in Magdalene in Magdalene Laundry and mother and mother and baby homes. I think of the women who suffered the barbarity and butchery of symphysiotomy. I think of the Hep C scandal of Count Corlea. I could list more. Women made their voices heard loud and clear in respect of all of these travesties. They were also to be heard loud and clear in the successful campaign for repeal of the Eighth Amendment. But the journey continues as activists campaign for a safe world where women and girls can walk our streets at ease, where women can live safely with dignity, where we get a fair and equal day's pay for a fair day's work. Count Corlea, I am proud to be the first woman leader of the Opposition in this House, where I work alongside so many talented, ambitious, hard-working women who are committed to delivering real change for the community. The last year I saw the election of the North's first minister-designate, who now heads our party's team, a majority of whom are women MLAs. I think also of the many activists and leaders who have stood up and made their voices heard in so many different ways and often in times of adversity. Yet, for all the progress that has been achieved, the journey is far from over. Women and girls still live in an Ireland where harassment and violence is far too common, where we are paid less than male colleagues, where childcare costs are unaffordable and where government often treats the needs of women and girls as afterthoughts. Despite the scourge of domestic violence, nine of our counties still have no refuge. And those counties with refuges are often forced to turn women and children away when they desperately need help, because there simply is not room. The government continues to fail its obligations under the Istanbul Convention to provide a minimum number of refuge places, and I think this is shameful. Survivors need safe haven, not just a bed, but also wraparound services with childcare and counselling on site. That is what real refuge is, and that is what must be delivered. The cost-of-living crisis has hit women particularly hard as they are on lower income, meaning their finances bear the brunt as they try to keep on top of rising rents, soaring energy prices and, of course, food costs. Our childcare costs are sky-high. They are totally unaffordable for many women on ordinary incomes. And we know that when social protection measures are weakened, it is always women, particularly single mothers, single parents, who are forced to shoulder the greatest burden. So, the government must continue to deliver sufficient cost-of-living measures to support women on low incomes who need a lifeline and need it now. The state cannot continue to block progressive change, and that means the government must stand up in tangible and meaningful ways. I do want to welcome, Minister, today's announcement of referendums on articles 40 and 41. Of course, this would just be a first step. We should also say that we do want to see a change that affords constitutional recognition and protection to caring and carers. We know that change is possible because the women of Ireland have created this change before, not because these rights were handed down to them by anyone else, but because they demanded the changes that were needed for a better future. The women of Ireland have been climbing mountains for generations. Generations of Irish women indeed have moved mountains. We know that we are at our strongest and most powerful when we stand together and for each other in sisterhood and solidarity. So, while much more needs to be done on this International Women's Day, I look forward to the future with hope and confidence that change can and will be delivered. Thank you, Deputy Mcdonald. Deputy Punch.