Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2021-11-02
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

I thank the MEPs for joining us today. As they may be aware, next Monday marks equal pay day in Ireland, the day when women in Ireland effectively stop earning relative to men, given the current gender pay gap of 14.4%. Despite this ongoing inequality, Ireland remains perhaps the only country that has not yet signed up to the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, CEMR, European charter for equality of women and men in local life. The charter seeks to promote gender equality at local and regional levels across Europe by proposing concrete methods through which equality of women and men can be pursued in areas such as political participation, employment, public service and urban planning. While I understand that this charter may be better suited to Irish European Committee of the Regions colleagues, I wonder if anyone can offer any explanation or insight as to why this charter has yet to be signed. Will their offices encourage and pursue this matter with their region colleagues?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-11-02/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-11-02