Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for selecting this matter as an item on the Adjournment. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Wallace, and wish her well in her Department.
Some weeks ago I raised this issue in the public arena and attempted to generate a debate around the issue of how men are perceived and perform in modern society. I am pleased we can at last debate this issue in the House because it is one that has been debated throughout the country during the past number of weeks. That debate is useful.
As with any creation, like any Frankenstein created, one is never sure of the final outcome. I have been open to suggestions from a variety of sources, since I first mooted this idea, as to how best to proceed from here to empirically study the issue of men and how men perform in modern society in a number of key areas. My proposal for a commission on the status of men is one among many. I am open to the views of the Minister and the Government about how to proceed.
For the first time, in 1970, the Commission on the Status of Women drew together much of the national and international work on the issue of pay and conditions for women. If it was right in 1970 and in 1997 to address the issues of women's place in the labour market, women's place in the home and their conditions therein, surely it is right that we address the issues of men's place in education, male suicide and male health because we have never had a focus on these issues.
Little work has been commissioned here on this issue. A commission could draw together much of the work that needs to be done. There is one graphic example of the need for such a commission. A conference took place last year in Helsinki on men and men's health. At that time the Irish Government could not produce any attitudes or opinions which men had because we had not commissioned the work. By proposing a commission on the status of men we could put on the record new work which must be undertaken in this area. There is evidence that boys are falling behind girls at school, particularly in relation to literacy. There is evidence that suicide among young men has trebled in the past ten years or so. There is no unit in the Department of Health and Children dealing with male health and the particular problems of testicular cancer. No screening process has been put in place to deal with that issue. I use these examples not to say they are the be all and the end all of the issue but merely to state we need to address, research and quantify the problems. The issue of male unemployment and its effects, particularly in unemployment black spots, must be addressed. I am open on the issue of whether we research this topic from Department to Department or by means of a commission or some other structure, but at least we can begin to debate the matter. It is right and proper that this issue becomes a mainstream political issue as in other developed countries. We are beginning to address the new problems experienced by men in society. This is not a question of rolling back the stone for women or of diminishing the fantastic results that have been achieved as a result of the feminist movement in the past 20 years. This is about facing up to new problems and new situations in which men find themselves. By responding, as I have suggested, we will send out a positive signal to men in our society.