I thank all my colleagues for their contributions today. I am very pleased to be delivering the closing remarks. It is very important that we mark International Women's Day because it is an opportunity for us to revitalise our shared efforts to achieve full equality between women and men. As a country, we have made real progress in our fight for equality and this has been captured by our improved ranking on the EU gender equality index. The Minister, Deputy Foley, and her Department have taken significant steps to promote gender equality and support the full participation of women and girls in society. The national strategy for women and girls sets out to address the challenges faced by women at all stages of their lives. The perspective of youth was prioritised in the development of the strategy, with a special national youth assembly taking place to ensure that young people's voices were built into Government policy. This demonstrates a real commitment to supporting the next generation. It is vital that we recognise that women can face many forms of disadvantage. To be effective, policy must respond to the full diversity of women's backgrounds and experiences. In the area of family caring, equal sharing of caring responsibilities has been promoted through significant increases in family leaves and promoting equality in the labour market with the Government's efforts to increase pay transparency and narrow the gender pay gap. The combined durations of maternity, paternity and parent's leave and benefit now equate to 46 weeks' paid leave for a two-parent family. Mothers also have an entitlement to 16 weeks of additional maternity leave, which is unpaid. In terms of disability rights, we had the launch of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 last year. Its implementation, alongside the women and girls strategy, can make a real and positive difference in the lives of disabled women. That is a real priority for the Government. Actions have been taken to tackle gender-based violence and the harassment of women through the national strategy, particularly objective 4, entitled "Being Safe". The impact of gender-based violence is a huge issue in our society, and the Government is committed to improving safety for women and girls. It is also extremely important that we recognise and acknowledge the changing threats to the safety, dignity and well-being of women and girls with the rise of cyber violence in our digital world. This is an issue that disproportionately affects young girls and women. As we have heard during today's statements, combating cyber violence against women and girls is part of Ireland's national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence 2022-2026. It is extremely concerning to see the increasing use of AI to generate offensive materials and to abuse or harass people. Worryingly, this online environment consistently gives rise to new, emerging and unforeseen threats. The enactment of Coco's Law in Ireland has ensured that the non-consensual sharing of intimate images is illegal. This legislation includes a broad definition of intimate images to also capture images that have been altered or doctored. To further address cyber violence against girls, we must tackle the harmful and restrictive content that is influencing our younger generations through social media and online spaces. Anti-gender equality movements are now emerging alongside a notable rise in online hate speech. Making digital and media spaces safer requires robust regulation. It also requires collaborative approaches to raise awareness, promote respectful online behaviour and support early intervention. Partnership-based, survivor-centred initiatives are essential to ensuring that prevention is embedded across digital environments and that emerging online harms are addressed effectively. Ireland will continue to explore options to strengthen victim reporting and awareness raising and will use our upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to advocate for greater online safety and the protection of women and children, in particular, from the misuse of digital tools. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality has led efforts and implemented a range of measures to support women in the workforce and to drive forward equality in the labour market. It is widely known that business does better when there is diversity among decision makers. Ireland has fully transposed the EU directive on gender balance on corporate boards to ensure that listed companies achieve a more gender-balanced spread among their board members. We have also made great strides in our efforts to narrow the gender pay gap, which is a critical measure of inequality. Through a range of measures, the gender pay gap in Ireland decreased from 14.4% in 2017 to an estimated 8.6% in 2023. In 2025, gender pay gap reporting was extended to all employers with over 50 staff. While it is mandatory for all those in scope of the reporting to publish their gender pay gap reports on their own website or make them accessible to the public, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has now developed a centralised reporting database, the gender pay gap portal, for employers to upload their gender pay gap information. While reporting on the portal is currently on a voluntary basis, it will become mandatory for 2026 reporting in November of this year. The publication of this information is intended to incentivise employers to take action to reduce the gender pay gap as much as they can. It is also intended to support Government policy in taking meaningful steps to further women's empowerment. This year, the Department will focus on transposing the pay transparency directive. Under this directive, EU companies will be required to share information about how much they pay women and men for work of equal value and to take corrective action if their gender pay gap exceeds 5%. It also provides for compensation for victims of pay discrimination and penalties, including fines, for non-compliance. This directive is crucial to empower workers, especially women, to enforce their right to equal pay through a set of binding measures on pay transparency. It will strengthen the transparency of pay systems, improve public understanding of the relevant legal concepts and enhance enforcement of the rights and obligations relating to equal pay. The Government is fully committed to full implementation of the pay transparency directive. It is vital work that must be progressed and will directly benefit women and girls and advance gender equality, both in the workplace and in wider society. As the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, described, she travelled to New York last week to update the 70th Commission on the Status of Women on the important progress we have made, while acknowledging that there is more work to be done to achieve a fully gender-equal society. In terms of my remit as Minister of State with special responsibility for public health and well-being, I was delighted to spend International Women's Day in Tullamore at the official launch of Women's Sheds of Ireland. It was wonderful to be there with so many strong and enthusiastic women dedicated to creating healthy environments in everyday life through community participation and empowerment. Spaces such as women's sheds can only help women. Women's sheds are great for women, even if they go just to socialise, and can help them to live healthier lives within their communities by encouraging participation, providing support and acting as a defence against loneliness and isolation. There are over 380 women's sheds around Ireland, and the work they do is valuable and crucial. They are a social outlet. All the women get to mix one or two evenings or maybe two mornings a week. They all do their own thing on different days. It is exceptional, and the goodwill that was there on International Women's Day for that launch was excellent. Together with my colleague, the Minister, Dara Calleary, in the Department of rural and community development, we want to ensure that women's sheds are supported in their excellent work. I appreciate the importance of investing in health and well-being measures that target inequality and the extra burden that women can carry, including free period products and initiatives under the national sexual health strategy such as free contraception. That is to name only a few measures within my remit. A lot of TDs spoke about different issues. It is important that all of us work together. Women's refuges came up very strongly in the debate. We have a great women's refuge in Kilkenny, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, namely, Amber Women's Refuge. Carlow's refuge is moving fast now. We hope to get the plans in soon to the local authority. Refuges are important. It is important that all of us work together with the women in our workplaces, wherever they work. It is important that all of us promote, work with and encourage our women. Women have so much to offer. As a woman standing here and as the Minister of State to conclude these statements, I can say I am a proud Irish woman, delighted to be here in the Chamber, encouraging women to go into politics. It is so important. We have so much to offer and we get a lot of satisfaction from the work we do. I hope everyone had a lovely, happy International Women's Day.

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