Much and all as the announcement of the referendum on equality issues, which is to be held in November, is welcome on International Women's Day, there is a deep irony in the fact that the Government announced earlier today a referendum to remove from the Constitution the insulting provision to the effect that a woman's place is in the home is also to be held. This announcement comes a day after the Government lifted the eviction ban thereby denying thousands of women the right to be in their homes. Anybody who listened to the interview on "Morning Ireland" this morning or saw the "Prime Time" programme last night should be utterly ashamed of the fact that the county we live in could do that to women. It is highly ironic that the announcement in this regard has been made on International Women's Day. The Taoiseach has to justify what has happened. How can he say on the one hand that the Government is going to remove insulting words from the Constitution but that, on the other, it is going to allow evictions to remove people from their homes. Thousands of whom with children have nowhere to go.

I would see that differently.

Of course you would.

The decision we made is to have a referendum to modernise our Constitution. Homelessness affects men and women alike. In fact, there are more men than women who are homeless. Homelessness affects younger people and older people. It also affects people from all sorts of walks of life. It is very much a stain on our society. It is not simply a gender issue, and that should be acknowledged. It is important to bear in mind that in some cases you will see women moving into certain homes when they become vacant. Women are coming back from abroad. I refer, for example, to nurses coming back from Australia and doctors returning from Dubai and other places. These people will be able to move back into their own homes, which is currently not possible. We will also see many of these properties going to first-time buyers. Approximately half of first-time buyers are women. There are two sides to this from a gender point of view.

The Taoiseach really does not get it.