Hear, hear.

Guím Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan sona ar gach éinne sa Teach. Is iad ár leanaí todhchaí na tíre seo, ach ní féidir leis na hoibrithe a thugann cúnamh agus oideachas dár leanaí óga tithíocht a choimeád de bharr a bpá íseal agus an cosc a stop an Rialtas inné. Níl aon áit ar fáil do go leor leanaí i gceantair áirithe agus tá an iomarca airgid á íoc ag tuismitheoirí atá ag streachailt cheana féin.

Today, on International Women's Day, I welcome the announcement that a referendum on gender equality will be held in November. It is something I have worked on for a long time. As Chairperson of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Equality, I look forward to campaigning to bring the Constitution into the 21st century, to delete the sexist language around women and mothers, to replace it with gender-neutral language recognising care, and to see an inclusive definition of family introduced. We will welcome these changes, and we in the Labour Party look forward to campaigning and playing a leading role to ensure they are made.

Today, I want to raise two related feminist issues: housing and childcare. While we need to insert recognition of care into the Constitution, we need to ensure care policies do not work against women in this country today. An experience of a young woman, a constituent in contact with my office, illustrates how current Government policy on housing and care is failing her and her family. She and her partner welcomed a baby boy into their lives a year ago, which was wonderful news. However, as renters, they are being failed by the State's housing policy, and as young parents they are being failed by the State's childcare policy. They are faced with dire insecurity of tenure and are forced to stand in queues to seek a decent home for themselves and their child. The cost of childcare means they do not even know if she will be able to return to work because they cannot find a childcare facility with space near to where they currently live. At her local breastfeeding group, she was told she should have put her son on a childcare waiting list when she was still pregnant. Because they are renting with no security of tenure, when the current eviction ban lifts, which the Taoiseach's Government shamefully refused to extend yesterday, they do not know where they will live so they cannot put their names on a local waiting list. This Government is letting down this young woman and her family.

On International Women's Day, I want to know what the Government proposes to do to ensure protection for my constituent, her partner and child, and for all of the families in their situation. Will the Government reinstate the eviction ban and move meaningfully towards a universal system of affordable childcare for all? In addition to the welcome referendum on gender equality, will the Government commit to holding a referendum on housing to ensure we see a right to a home within the text of our Constitution, our Bunreacht na hÉireann?

As I announced earlier with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, we will have a referendum, or indeed perhaps a number of referendums, in November to modernise our Constitution to enshrine in it equal rights between men and women, to recognise care in our Constitution and to modernise the definition of family so that it is not just families based on marriage that are seen as families through the eyes of our Constitution. Many families are led by grandparents, guardians and often by lone parents. We need to change our Constitution in that regard. We hope and expect to have wording by the early summer and be in a position to have the legislation done in September and have the vote in November. I particularly thank the committee which the Deputy chaired for the really good work it did in that regard. The wording proposed by the committee and the options it came up with will be extremely helpful in getting this done this year. While sometimes in Ireland we may feel we experience referendum fatigue, I actually do not think we have had a referendum in four or five years now, so constitutional change is overdue, especially in this area. We are keen to make it happen.

To answer specifically the Deputy's questions on childcare and tenants' rights, we as a Government have worked very hard to improve quality, capacity and cost when it comes to childcare. The Deputy will be aware that, in January, the vast majority of parents saw a 20% or 25% reduction in childcare fees. We are keen to repeat that in the budget if the public finances allow. That would mean this will be the Government that reduced childcare costs by half. That is not a small thing. I know it will be very welcome to many parents who have been struggling to pay the bills. We are improving quality all the time, which is very important too. It is not just about childcare but also about early years education. It is important we see it in that context. We are working to increase capacity. We know that is a challenge. Of course, as the cost of something is reduced, understandably the demand increases, and that puts pressure on capacity. That is something we always have to take into account.

On giving more people security of tenure, we have changed the law around renters' rights. Renters now get many months' notice before they are asked to quit. That gives them much more time to find an alternative place to rent. The problem is there are not enough alternative places to rent because there are too few landlords in the market. We need to get them back in and scale up cost rental from the Government side. All new tenancies are tenancies of indefinite duration. We cannot apply that retrospectively, but all new tenancies are tenancies of indefinite duration. That is important too. We have also brought in the rent pressure zones and the rent tax credit.

I thank the Taoiseach for the commitment on the referendum. That is welcome. However, we need to see Government policies on care and housing that recognise the difficulties and discrimination still faced by so many women, in particular. It is not just parents who are being failed. While there has been a welcome reduction in fees, there is a very significant problem now for childcare and early years professionals.

I met one young early years professional last week who told me she is forced to emigrate to Brisbane in Australia to work in her chosen profession, where childcare is valued, where she will receive decent pay and conditions and, critically, where she will be able to afford a mortgage and buy a home of her own. That is a right and prospect she is not being afforded in this country, where we see Government failure on housing, despite the moves the Taoiseach described on renters’ rights. It is simply not good enough. The cliff edge faced by many renters as the eviction ban comes to an end is likely to lead to a tsunami of evictions. We have heard this from homeless organisations and organisations working with renters. We hear it from our constituents all the time. They face this frightening prospect. What can the Taoiseach do for them? Will he be putting in place another eviction ban in the winter? He has to, because the policies his Government is pursuing are not delivering for renters.

On childcare professionals, we have an employment regulation order in place that has improved pay, and terms and conditions for such professionals. It gives them a proper incremental scale and a body of workers’ rights beyond the minimum floor prescribed in legislation. I think that is helping in recruiting and retaining childcare professionals. Last time I visited a childcare facility in Blanchardstown in my constituency, it was great to see so many people who had come from other parts of the world because the terms and conditions are better in our childcare system. Many came from Spain, for example. It was good to see people attracted to Ireland by the opportunities, education and terms and conditions they benefit from.

There is a programme for Government commitment to establish a commission on care to look at this issue in the round. For administrative reasons, we can only have so many commissions on the go. The housing commission will finish its work in the summer and we intend to establish a commission on care and have it up and running, certainly this year and it is hoped before the middle of this year.