Women in political leadership
Senator Clonan congratulated Holly Cairns and other party leaders and argued that women’s empowerment is essential to addressing conflict, climate change and patriarchy. A brief interjection then confirmed his wish for female leadership in more parties, and he welcomed the Government’s referendum announcement.
I wish a happy International Women’s Day to everybody, and particularly to my female colleagues here in the Seanad and throughout the Oireachtas.
I was away at the Scottish Parliament last week at meetings and I did not get a chance to congratulate Deputy Holly Cairns on her appointment as leader of the Social Democrats. That is a great development. Equally, I am delighted to see Deputy Mary Lou McDonald as the leader of Sinn Féin, Deputy Ivana Bacik as leader of the Labour Party, and no pressure to Senator Lisa Chambers but I hope to see a female leader of Fianna Fáil soon-----
Comment on this
Yes, very soon, and also in Fine Gael and in the Green Party. I firmly believe that our very survival and everything that confronts us, including awful global conflict and climate change, are the very expressions of patriarchy, and our survival and the survival of the planet is really at this point a matter of the empowerment of women and girls all around the world. It is a better way to conduct all of our affairs.
On International Women's Day, I want to take the opportunity to welcome the Government's announcement of a referendum to enshrine gender equality and to remove references to women in the home. It is reported that the exact wording of the referendum will be published in June. According to the Taoiseach the referendum will propose to amend the Constitution to enshrine gender equality and to remove the outmoded reference to women in the home, in line with the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality.
I welcome this announcement but my attention is focused this morning on the word "home". I hope that the word "home" is not considered an outmoded concept. I believe that all Irish citizens deserve the constitutional right to a home, whether that be an affordable home or a home provided by the State. Home, or housing, as set out in Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a fundamental human right. This morning on our national broadcaster, RTÉ, on this International Women's Day, I listened to women describe the prospect of becoming homeless in the coming weeks in this Irish republic in 2023. They were heart-breaking interviews. I have heard mothers describe the morbid fear and panic induced by imminent eviction in the coming weeks. If and when the eviction ban is lifted, mark my words, there will be a convulsion of human suffering and pain across this republic and, because of the crisis and the broader crises, it will be of a scale not witnessed since before our War of Independence when we were governed by laissez-faire Tories, and rack rent and absentee landlords. Our grandparents' oppressors have been replaced by vulture funds, cuckoo funds and a political ideology that sees homes and housing as a commodity and not as a public good.
On this International Women's Day I call on this House to call for a constitutional referendum to enshrine the guarantee to housing and homes for all of our citizens in Bunreacht na hÉireann.