It is great to be able to speak here today on International Women's Day and to discuss so many issues facing women right across this country, particularly in our role as representatives to ensure we represent all voices. I say that as a man standing here speaking while thinking about my mother, my three lovely sisters and all the women I meet every week in my constituency clinics and the issues they bring to me, as their representative, directly. It is important to say that Ireland has come a long way over recent decades in terms of equality. We have a long way to go, however. Ireland's equality journey is really only getting started and we have so much yet to achieve to ensure people feel equal in this society and, ultimately, are equal in reality. I will start by talking about the gender pay gap and the importance of trying, not just to resolve it, but to bring greater transparency around it. We know that over time the gender pay gap widens. The only way you can manage something like this is by measuring it and by having transparency. I implore the Minister of State to continue to work on this issue and to ensure that it gets the attention it needs and achieves the desired outcome of greater transparency and greater equality of outcomes for both women and men, because that is what will come off the back of that. It is also important on International Women's Day to talk about the representation of women, the importance of the role women play in politics, and the need for more women to be in roles of leadership in companies and, in particular, here in the Dáil. Whatever it takes to ensure that more women are elected to the Dáil needs to happen, because I firmly believe it would lead to greater representation for women in the Dáil. In the present Dáil, as in the previous one, there has been a massive emphasis on women's healthcare and making it a priority in terms of menopause care, contraception, maternity services and conditions like endometriosis. We need to continue investing more in those areas. My mother practices as a GP in rural County Galway. I have heard from her the impact some of the measures brought in by Government over the past few years have had on patients. That is really important. If we do not make these investments and if we fail our women, then we are failing as a society. It is important that we continue to invest in women's health and make it a priority, so women have better health outcomes. I want Ireland to be a leader in women's health and I think we can do that. Particularly as a man standing here, we need to call out some of the issues brought to my attention when it comes to violence against women, whether domestic, sexual or gender-based violence. It has to be met with stronger supports and laws. Ultimately it all comes down to culture and it is important to say that. There was a Netflix documentary aired last week called "Inside the Manosphere", about the negative impact those influencers are having on young men's attitudes towards women. That is also something that needs to be called out. We all have a shared ambition for women in Ireland to see them succeed and live fantastic lives of equality and opportunity but we need to move that from ambition to action and investment. I believe the focus must now be on delivery and measurable progress in people's lives. I hope the Minister of State can take on some of the matters I have raised.

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