International Women's Day: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-04 ============================================================ Maria Byrne (FG), Agricultural Panel I thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, for coming to discuss statements on International Women's Day. I know it is next Sunday and we are celebrating it in advance. Last week, I was honoured to host females from Fine Gael. There were female councillors and people from the women's network. It was certainly a wonderful day of celebration. It was about women sharing their resources, their ideas and that whole sense of collaboration. On 8 March, it will mark 115 years of celebrating International Women's Day. We have seen significant changes and advancements for women since 1911. As referred to by my colleague, Senator Murphy O'Mahony, Countess Markievicz was first elected to the House of Commons in 1918 and was later elected the first female TD in 1919. International Women's Day is not only a day to celebrate our achievements, but to advocate for greater gender equality. While we can acknowledge our great achievements, we can also recognise that, in many areas, we are still closing the gaps to ensure women have more equal opportunities and experience. When I think of some of the female former Members who were trail-blazers, I think of people like Monica Barnes, Mary O'Rourke, Avril Doyle, Gemma Hussey and Nuala Fennell. They were all way before their time in terms of standing up for women's rights. They spoke about things like the right to work and equal pay for equal work. When we hosted our event last week, we honoured Frances Fitzgerald for her work and achievements, not only starting off as a social worker, but in the different ministerial roles she held, including serving as a Cabinet Minister for quite a while. In Fine Gael, we are very proud to say that nearly half of our Ministers who serve at the Cabinet table are female. That is a wonderful achievement to have three female Ministers out of the seven serving in those roles. This year theme is "give to gain". Give to gain is a fitting concept for how we can all collectively give back to allow for the best in society to develop. One individual comes to mind. We have a councillor in County Meath, Councillor Yemi Adenuga. When she was elected back in 2019, she was the first black female councillor. She was also the first migrant councillor to be elected in County Meath. She has set up a mentoring programme for women and young people. That is a typical example of how you give back to gain. All of us in this Chamber are politically interested and we often recognise the achievements of political female trail-blazers, as I referred to already, but there are many avenues in life where women break boundaries every day. One that comes to mind is a neighbour of mine, Joy Neville. She was one of the first female rugby referees. There are many females who have followed along that path since, but also females participating in sport. There are female entrepreneurs and female start-up business owners, and many of them have achieved much. They are a great example for our women and girls. I know the Minister referred to the women and girls strategy in her speech. The year 2026 has been referred to by my learned colleague as the year of the female farmer. In Limerick, the chairperson of our local IFA is a young female farmer in her 30s. It is great to see females out there and working in jobs that were traditionally held by men. Karen Ronan is a sister of Senator Collins and the national chairperson of Network Ireland, and on Saturday, it is holding a conference in Limerick. It will host its flagship International Women's Day event in the Strand Hotel, the national gathering of female entrepreneurs and professionals. I wish the event the very best because I know that those females who are involved in organisations like Network Ireland have brought other females into it. They have supported, mentored and worked together. That whole collaboration piece and support shows that collegiality. It does not just have to be women supporting women. I am delighted that we have a couple of our male colleagues here today to support women on International Women's Day. Another thing I will highlight is that, during the week, there was an announcement from the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, about how the former international rugby experience museum, which was closed down, would become a museum to highlight women and their achievements. It will be under the National Museum of Ireland. The National Museum of Ireland currently has four venues - three in Dublin and one in Mayo - but this will be the first of its kind, in that it will contribute to the lives of females. I think there are many females in Ireland who have contributed so much but many people do not know about them. This is a step in the right direction in terms of honouring females and acknowledging their contributions to society and life. I believe that we can all work together in terms of the contribution to support one another while also acknowledging women and the roles they play. I should have said that I am taking this on behalf of Senator Nikki Bradley. Part of the Minister's remit is disability and Senator Bradley is a wonderful disability advocate. I wish her all the best. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-04/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-04