Speech by Minister Hanafin - Let’s talk, Irish Women’s voice on Europe

  I am delighted to have been asked to participate in today’s conference. Our meeting here today is most important and very timely.  I say this because one of the curious facts to have emerged in the aftermath of last year’s referendum, from the Millward Brown study in its immediate aftermath, right through to last week’s Irish Times poll, is the degree of hesitation that Irish women appear to feel about our participation in the European Union.

There is a great irony to this. For Europe has been one of the great emancipating forces for Irish women.  The proclamation of the Republic spoke boldly of “equal rights and equal opportunities [of] all its citizens”, but our early record of putting that into actual practice left something to be desired, particularly where equality between the sexes was concerned.In that respect, the Union has been a force for good for Irish women, cajoling our society at a less-enlightened time, to recognise the rights owed to half of our citizens.

The thought of an Irish Minister pleading in Europe that the idea of equal pay for both sexes was merely aspirational, and the Union’s refusal to accept that argument, reminds us of the positive implications for Irish women of our membership of the then-Communities. It remains so to this day.Equality between the sexes is a fundamental principle of EU law.

It is now enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is to be given legal status by the Lisbon Treaty.  This cornerstone right has been recognised since the very early days of the European Community. From the 1970s on, a whole body of law has been developed with the aim of ensuring that the women of Europe get fair and equal treatment at work.

This goes beyond the early prohibitions on discrimination.  It has developed to include a whole corpus of positive freedoms that ensure that the women of Europe can participate fully in their societies, as workers, as mothers, as spouses and as individuals through, for example, a right to increased maternity leave; a right to return to work; a broadened right to participate in part-time or flexible work; a right to parental leave, enabling fathers to spend time with their families, alongside mothers.The EU has been a formidable partner for European women right across the continent.

In my view, it is an important factor in enabling us to lead meaningful, fulfilling lives to the utmost of our potential. In a globalised world, where we are competing not just with our neighbours, but with workers on the far side of the world, the Union is our single greatest bulwark against a race to the bottom of social standards, of environmental standards, and of workers’ rights.As you can imagine, therefore, it gives me great concern that Irish women appear to view the Union in a somewhat lukewarm manner if their voting preferences last year represent a fair indication of their general views. 

To an extent, I suppose, this comes from our comfort with what is familiar, and our wariness in dealing with an entity the size and complexity of the Union. The Government is investing great effort—as is the Union itself—in working to improve the way that we communicate what it is that the Union is and what it does. Some of the Union’s work is complicated, even to those who work with it on a daily basis; but then, many of the issues on which the Union works are equally complicated: climate change, food safety, airline safety, safety at work, and so on. Our country faces countless issues which are simply too big—which require a response greater than Ireland’s alone—if we are to confront them successfully.

Human trafficking is a perfect example of this. We have all be horrified at recent revelations about the prevalence of this phenomenon, whose effects are felt most keenly by young, vulnerable women. The Union provides us with an ideal framework for taking on the gangs at the centre of this vile trade. The gangs respect no borders in their criminality, so our response cannot be country-bound either.

We have enjoyed some critical successes in this area already, but if the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force, we can raise our game again. Revised voting rules will allow us to develop quicker, more coherent responses to combat human trafficking, equipping our Europe-wide Union to deal with this Europe-wide problem.We all of us here today have an obligation to take this conversation about Europe’s potential as a force for good for women, and move it beyond the bounds of this colloquium, and the op-ed pages of the papers.

We need to remind our fellow women of the good that the EU has done, and continues to do, in our daily lives. I know that the Irish Exporters’ Association is holding meetings in each of its firms’ offices on the importance of the vote on Friday 2 October, and perhaps this trickle-down structure is something we could consider replicating somehow too. Polling data shows us that this campaign will not be won or lost in colloquiums and seminars, but in smaller, more personal interactions.

This is something that is understood well by those organisations that are cynically playing on people’s fears, to undermine, vote-by-vote, the Irish people’s natural and consistently positive attitude towards Europe.They did this successfully last June, playing in particular on mothers’ fears, creating an apprehension that the Lisbon Treaty would introduce conscription. Last week was the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.

Anyone who knows anything of the history of Europe knows that Europeans, more than any others and on the strength of bitter experience, carry with them a particular aversion to war. There is a series of documentaries being aired now, to commemorate the anniversary of the outbreak of war, many of them focussing on personal histories. None has moved me more than that telling the story of the evacuation by train of hundreds of Jewish children from Prague to London.

Virtually none would see their families again. The footage of parents, all of them destined for death camps, straining through tears on the platform at Prague Station for a last glimpse of their tiny children—some as young as three—is heart-wrenching.This is the backdrop against which our Union was built, and it is the backdrop against which we continue to develop it. It is nothing less than galling, therefore, to see some of the trite falsehoods peddled by those who would manipulate the forthcoming referendum to further their self-serving agenda.

The Government and our European partners have gone to great lengths to put together a package of legally binding guarantees in advance of this second referendum. In the event of a yes vote, Ireland will retain its Commissioner. The originally planned rotation of Commissioners has been abandoned. This is a dramatic change from the provisions of the Treaty, obtained in the face of determined resistance from a number of partners.

In the end, on the back of a Europe-wide wish to build consensus, our desire to retain an Irish Commissioner prevailed.Similarly, we have obtained legally binding guarantees in the areas of taxation policy, the right to life, education and the family, and our traditional policy of military neutrality. Polling conducted after the last referendum showed that concerns about our neutrality weighed heavily on women’s minds last year.

I hope that the robust guarantees we have agreed with our partners will address people’s concerns this time around. I know how dearly we hold our traditional policy of military neutrality. So do I. But neutrality is not the same as isolation, and Ireland has never been a isolationist country. For more than 50 years, Irish servicemen and women have served with distinction around the world, protecting and supporting the weakest among us, a visible manifestation of our solidarity with the oppressed people of the world.

Our peacekeeping work has always been about effect; never just for show. In 50 years, we have developed a proficiency at peacekeeping that is the envy of the world. We aim to keep it that way. And the UN has consistently told us that one of the most effective ways they know of maintaining our efficiency is by working with our partners in the EU to ensure that we can send resources quickly where they are needed. Since 2003, the EU has launched 23 crisis management operations. 17 have been civilian operations—only six have been military.

The Commander for one of the largest—the mission in Chad and the Central African Republic—was an Irish General with a long relationship with Cork city, Pat Nash.  Pat led a force providing protection for more than 400,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Darfur. The efforts of the men and women under his command established an area of safety and security for women who, weeks before, could not even forage for firewood without running the risk of being raped by rebels.Those who would describe operations such as this a “militarisation of Europe” miss the point.

Our work with the Union is merely the latest manifestation of a long, proud tradition of Irish assistance to the world’s most vulnerable people.I don’t want to dominate discussion, so let me conclude by thanking you very much for your efforts in organising this conference. It provides a valuable forum for exchanging views and ideas on how to engage women on the question we will be asked to answer on Friday, 2 October.  

Our answer, on that day, will affect the lives of Irish women for generations to come.You are all aware, I think, of the excellent work of Women for Europe, www.womenforeurope.ie. If you need anything more on the Lisbon Treaty, the Government’s information site www.lisbontreaty.ie is a fruitful port of call.Women’s lives in Ireland have improved immeasurably in the past 36 years of our membership.

All of Ireland has benefited from this great unlocking of our potential. But it’s a case of much done, more to do. Europe has played a big part in this empowerment, and it has much more to offer us. I hope that you will join me in dedicating yourselves over the coming weeks to this vital national question. We, as women, have more to gain from a yes vote than does any other sector of Irish society. Let’s ensure that we give ourselves the future we deserve.