Mary Lou McDonald
Question:20. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [22487/23]
Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed)
Cross-Border Co-operation
Ivana Bacik
Question:21. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island dialogue all-island women’s forum civic initiative. [25768/23]
Neasa Hourigan
Question:22. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [25952/23]
Brendan Smith
Question:23. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [26403/23]
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:24. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [28289/23]
Bríd Smith
Question:25. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the Shared Island Dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [28610/23]
Paul Murphy
Question:26. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the Shared Island Dialogue all-island women's forum civic initiative. [28613/23]
Tógfaidh mé ceisteanna ó Uimh. 20 go dtí Uimh. 26 le céile.
The all-island women's forum, established by the National Women's Council of Ireland in 2021, is a very welcome contribution to the shared island initiative. The forum aims to respond to the under-representation of women and further develop women's role in peacebuilding and civic society. Its work has been funded by the reconciliation fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs. President Michael D. Higgins spoke at a conference of the forum in Enniskillen in February last year, and the then Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, participated in the launch of the forum's first report in Dublin in September.
The all-island's women forum is an example of the important role civil society can play in building collaboration and consensus on issues of common concern for people from different communities, traditions and backgrounds. The Government is committed to deepening societal connections across the island, including through the new shared island civic society fund operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The shared island unit attends plenary meetings of the all-island women's forum as an observer, of which there have been two so far this year. Representatives of the National Women's Council of Ireland and the forum have also spoken at a number of events in the shared island dialogue series. We look forward to continuing to interact with the all-island women's forum as it continues its valuable work.
On behalf of Sinn Féin, I too welcome the ambassador and the South African delegation.
I raise the important initiative launched today by Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. We-Speak is a new anonymous online platform for survivors of sexual violence. Trained professionals will manage the platform and create a safe environment for survivors to tell their story and provide support to one another. We should acknowledge Noeline Blackwell, who recently announced she will retire from Dublin Rape Crisis Centre later in the year. Noeline, as the Taoiseach will know, is a champion of human rights, an innovator and a changemaker, and I hope she will continue this great work in her next life chapter.
Last year, the women's forum made a number of recommendations to the Government, one of which was for an all-island strategy on gender-based violence. A related shared commitment North and South concerns the introduction of a statutory entitlement to domestic violence paid leave. The decision of the Government to attach a prescribed rate of pay to this entitlement was roundly rejected by victims, advocates and, indeed, members of the Taoiseach's Oireachtas team. Cutting the pay of domestic violence victims would be intolerable and would be in direct conflict with the Government's zero-tolerance policy. While the legislation providing for the domestic violence leave has been enhanced, the regulations to provide for the leave have yet to be drafted and are now unlikely to be finalised this year. Will the Taoiseach explain the delay and give a commitment to following up on this?
Of course, the shared island initiative is very welcome in many strata of society both North and South, and I have been very glad over recent months to attend a number of events both North and South to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. At a British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly commemoration held at Stormont in early March, a number of speakers from the former women's coalition took part in our discussions. Those contributions were excellent and reminded us in stark terms of the hostility they had endured from some participants of the multiparty talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. The women's coalition was a strong and clear voice on reconciliation and the concerns of victims and their families. Their input is clear in the text of the Good Friday Agreement. It has been heartening to listen to Professor Monica McWilliams and other members of the women's coalition give their views on the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement and also on what needs to be done. There are ongoing issues for victims and their families and there are legacy issues, and the voices of women are so important in dealing with those issues. As we know, the UK legacy Bill will put things back very far if it ever gets onto the statute book.
We welcome much of what has happened as a result of the shared island unit. I have a particular view that the shared island dialogue in general terms needs to be expanded. We accept we are on a certain constitutional trajectory on this island and it is a matter of us recognising that. We have a particular issue at the minute in that we have political drift. We need to ensure that is not allowed to sustain itself and that the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, joins the rest of us in forming an Executive and getting on with it. We also accept that issues are best dealt with on an all-island basis. What new modelling or funding are we looking at from the shared island unit? Regarding the dialogue, could we look at it from the point of view of expanding it? We could have those full conversations and we could even expand it so that it would look like, or even be, for the want of a better term, a citizens' assembly on Irish unity and beyond. This could be done to the degree it would need to be done, given the many issues contained within that particular conversation.
People Before Profit warmly welcomes our colleagues from South Africa. It is good to see them here. I do not know how much they know about this little island but it is partitioned and there are things that impact on either side quite harshly sometimes. One of those is women's rights. On the very historic day we got the repeal referendum result and we all gathered and celebrated in Dublin Castle, some young women from the North held up a banner saying the North was next. However, five years later, I am afraid the North has gone ahead of the South in terms of its access to abortion rights. This leaves a lot to be corrected in this State, not only because there should be a shared island from the point of view of women's health, but also because the recent review by Ms Marie O'Shea shows some really gaping holes in the legislation here for women's reproductive health. I ask the Taoiseach about that and ask him to comment on the need for a real shared island in terms of people's lived life experience and access to healthcare and women's healthcare in this case.
The Taoiseach said a couple of months ago that "I’ve been asked many times, can we make contributions to important infrastructure projects, like for example, the A5? Are there things we can do to the Shared Island fund? And the answer is yes". How far does that go in terms of contributions the Irish Government is willing to make to assist people in the North with the problems they are facing? I reference the health service in particular where there is an important local hospital campaign in Newry to save Daisy Hill Hospital. Thousands of people have been mobilised in different forums. There was a public meeting a few days ago with hundreds of people at it, thousands of people attended a protest a few weeks ago, and 12,000 people have signed submissions. Basically, there has been cut after cut to Daisy Hill Hospital and emergency services have been taken out, etc. Now there is a threat of 100 beds being lost and the future of the hospital itself is under threat. The community is rallying. People Before Profit is a part of that campaign. Regarding this reference to the possibility for funding and so on, can funding go towards health services in a situation like this?
I also want to particularly welcome the South African delegation to remind the Taoiseach of a very particular relationship that exists between this country, South Africa and Palestine. We had the first version of apartheid with the penal laws. These were systematic discrimination which contributed very substantially to the Famine in this country. The people of South Africa struggled against a similar system of apartheid that had cruel consequences for the majority of the population and they overcame it. The South African Parliament recognises its responsibility to the Palestinian people to call out the apartheid behaviour of Israel in its treatment of the Palestinians. It may be of interest to the Taoiseach to know that earlier this year the South African Parliament downgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel because of that country's shocking treatment of the Palestinians.
As I have said, the UN and many other bodies are now saying Israel has no intention of ending its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. To be honest, the Taoiseach's earlier response is incredibly disappointing in that regard. No serious person believes that Israel is going to dismantle the apartheid system voluntarily. South Africa recognises that and we have a particular responsibility to recognise it, given our history. There was an appeal from the UN special committee on this for Ireland to play a very particular role and show responsibility in calling out the apartheid system and the war crimes of Israel on Palestine.
I thank the Deputies. I start by joining with Deputy Conway-Walsh in her remarks commending the work of Noeline Blackwell who is retiring shortly from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. She is somebody I have worked with in various different formats. She is a very pleasant person but is also somebody who has really made a big difference for the better in Irish life. I congratulate her on her retirement. She is, as Deputy Conway-Walsh said, a true human rights advocate, and I hope she will be open to a future role with us in advancing human rights further and equality in the State.
In terms of the domestic violence leave, this is a new form of paid leave. It is progress that we are introducing it. I do not know what the story is with the regulations but I will check with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and will come back to the Deputy about that as soon as I can.
Deputy Smith reminded us earlier of the role of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, NIWC. I agree with the Deputy that it made a real and undervalued contribution to securing the Good Friday Agreement. I had a chance to meet Monica McWilliams not too long ago and I expressed in some of my contributions how I often wondered how the Northern Ireland Assembly might have evolved had the electoral system been different and had it allowed the NIWC to continue to be represented. The more that centre ground grows, the better, in my view. In many ways, it is a pity the NIWC is not present anymore but the contribution it made was really valuable.
We have a lot of co-operation when it comes to healthcare North-South, whether it is children from the North coming to Crumlin hospital for heart surgery or patients from Donegal going to the Altnagelvin hospital for cancer treatment or for treatment of heart attacks, for example. The abortion laws in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are different. We are different jurisdictions. We decide what the laws are here in the Oireachtas. Stormont, when it is working, decides what the laws are in Northern Ireland; when it is not, decisions are unfortunately made in London.
On financial commitments, the Government is committed to making a financial contribution to the building of the A5. It is a very dangerous road. I support the campaign to have it built; I always have. It will not just benefit people in Tyrone and Derry. It will also benefit people in Donegal, and indeed Monaghan, and that should never be forgotten. I was at meetings as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, with the then Minister, Danny Kennedy and then Minister Sammy Wilson, to agree our financial contribution. Had I believed that ten years later it would not be through planning permission I would have said it could not be true. Unfortunately, it is true but I really hope it gets planning consent now and of course the Irish Government would be happy to contribute to it and strongly supports the campaign in Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry to get that project under way.
I have given the view in other debates that the shared island fund is there to help. We have made contributions to different projects in the past and we are happy to have a conversation with the British Government and the Northern Ireland parties about how we can contribute to projects north of the Border in the future. That should not be done here in the Chamber; it is a conversation that needs to happen government to government and with the five parties. I point out to the Deputy that there are reasons why this State, this jurisdiction, is in a position to fund something like the shared island unit or provide more than €1 billion in overseas development aid to other parts of the world to make our contribution to the European Union. That is because of the economic policies we have pursued down through the years such as being pro-trade, pro-business, and a part of the European Union. If we pursued different policies such as those advocated by People Before Profit, far from being in a position to fund projects in other jurisdictions-----
We might not have 12,000 homeless.
-----we would be asking for help from others and the homeless figures would be much greater.
We might not have 100,000 on hospitals waiting lists.
What about the research modelling and expanding the shared island dialogue?
I will have to get back to the Deputy on that.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Taoiseach.
Táimid ag bogadh ar aghaidh. Fáilte roimh na daltaí óga thuas staighre atá san Áiléar Poiblí.