Women in Ireland increasingly subjected to online hate and misogyny, groups warn
Women in Ireland are increasingly subjected to online hate and misogyny amid a growing global backlash against women's rights, representative groups have warned.
The
National Women's Council
(NWC), in consultation with more than 200 member groups including trade unions, professional bodies and grassroots organisations, have cited the spread of far-right discourse and anti-migrant sentiment as particularly threatening to women's rights in Ireland and globally.
The organisation launched its new strategic plan for 2025-2029, Time to Act for Women's Rights and Equality, on Thursday.
It said the use of social media to spread online hate and misogyny had become an issue in need of 'a response at the highest level'.
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It also cited the use of artificial intelligence as posing a risk to 'women's online safety, to job security, and to the environment'.
NWC president Orla O'Connor expressed concern about 'a hardening of discourses in relation to migrants and those seeking asylum and refugees', adding that 'there is a shift in relation to how we treat people coming to Ireland seeking international protection and a better future'.
She also expressed concern about those experiencing war abroad.
'Women and children are bearing the brunt of war and conflict. In Gaza, we are witnessing a genocide taking place before our eyes.'
The NWC noted that both the gender pay gap and the pension gap have remained high in Ireland, at 10 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. It cited the dominance of women in care professions and carrying out unpaid care responsibilities as contributing to these figures.
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Women still underrepresented on councils amid online abuse and lack of support
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Ms O'Connor acknowledged there had been 'important advances' in women's rights in Ireland over recent years, including with the introduction of the free contraception and hormone replacement therapy scheme.
However, in other areas, she said 'the pace of change remains painfully slow'.
'Women make up more than half of the population but only represent 25 per cent of our TDs and 28 per cent of local councillors.'
The strategic plan aims to 'promote human rights and equality, through mobilising, influencing and building solidarity'.
The organisation has called on Government to prioritise decisive actions that will make a difference to women's lives such as the introduction of gender quotas for local election candidates, combating online misogyny and providing accessible housing and accommodation to those in need.
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Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Other potential new names for the Department of Arts: Smacc, Cacs, Scam and – my favourite
The Government has lost the arts down the back of the sofa again. Look, it happens. It's probably nothing to worry about. It knows it's there. It hasn't abandoned the arts as if it were a failed IT project or anything. Not yet. This is about nomenclature. 'Arts' has been dropped from the name of the department in charge of it as part of a string of shake-ups, with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media losing responsibility for tourism and the Gaeltacht and becoming the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. [ Arts Council wrote to officials almost 60 times over botched IT project without issue being escalated Opens in new window ] On Wednesday we were treated to an official denial that this penalty was for the crime of starting with a vowel. Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O'Donovan , as he's now known, was reportedly wary of a name change to the Department of Sport, Media, Arts, Culture and Communications because he didn't want to be Minister for Smacc. READ MORE Other acronyms were available. We could have had Cacs, which would have conjured up a lovely image every time, or Scam. My personal choice would have been to name it the Department of Sport, Arts and Communications and then dub it DoSac, in homage to the chaotic Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship from Armando Iannucci 's BBC satire The Thick of It. Asked about the Smacc theory at this week's meeting of the relevant Oireachtas committee – which still has arts in its title – the department's secretary general, Feargal Ó Coigligh , said the previous name was 'seen to be a mouthful' and the Minister was anxious that the new one be 'accessible'. Across European ministries, 'culture' was the term usually favoured. 'Culture is the normal word that's used,' he said, seeming relieved to take a break from raking over how the Arts Council spent €6.7 million on a botched, bug-riddled IT project. The upshot of the committee meeting, as summarised by its chairman, Alan Kelly of the Labour Party, was that the department has more questions to answer about its handling of that fandango. With O'Donovan opting not to appoint Maureen Kennelly for a further five-year term as director of the Arts Council , Kelly couldn't help feeling that she had become 'a sacrificial lamb'. There was some eagerness, too, about O'Donovan's scheduled appearance before the committee in early July. He may no longer be minister for the arts, but he is still, after all, the Minister in charge of the Arts Council. He's also the Minister who has backed extending the Basic Income for the Arts scheme beyond its pilot phase, though that doesn't, of course, guarantee the introduction of these financial lifelines for artists. This Coalition, like the one before it, is so good at being non-committal, and so adept at being angered and disappointed by various agencies and semi-States, that it seems a stretch to think it would bother vanishing 'arts' from the department name as part of any distancing exercise. But some believe the ditching bodes ill. Labour's arts spokesman, Rob O'Donoghue, has blasted the rebrand as shameful, saying that it sends a message – some might say an unnecessary one – to artists 'that they don't matter and aren't a priority'. Subsuming arts into 'merely culture' is symbolic of artists' status as 'the poor relation within the department', O'Donoghue suggests. It's a Smacc-down. Naturally, no one cares about 'media' being swallowed up by 'communications'. And few will remember that before the last name change, in 2020, the reconfigured department was first announced as the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht before someone realised that this was not the correct pecking order and booted 'media' down the back. 'Arts' has, by comparison, enjoyed long spells on departmental stationery. Responsibility for it escaped the Department of the Taoiseach in 1993, when Michael D Higgins became minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht. Since then there have been two artsless periods – May 2010-June 2011 and August 2017-September 2020 – with culture reigning supreme both times. [ Up to 90: The best Irish words and phrases Opens in new window ] I haven't always been a fan of the term 'the arts'. I've recoiled from it because of the precious way that a minority invoke it as a kind of extension of their privilege, trumpeting it as a rarefied and narrowly defined practice, replete with gatekeeping and entitlement. 'Culture', by contrast, is a word that seems to reflect the entire sweep of creativity embedded in our lives. Culture is not 'merely culture'. It's inseparable from who we are. But these semantics are only safe to explore in the abstract, divorced from concerns about political expediency – even the slightest hint that it might be convenient for the Government to jettison 'arts' from the department name is enough to render the demotion ominous and, well, artless. It's possibly either too late or too soon for a Save the Arts campaign. Still, prepare your placards. We must start one in support of the establishment of the Department of Smacc right away.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
The great tragedy is there's no political pendulum to restrain Israel's Cromwellian impulses
General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready hated Ireland. He had a sense of foreboding when summoned to Downing Street in March 1920, fearing it had something to do with 'the island I had hoped never to set foot in again', the Ireland, he said, 'I loathe with a depth deeper than the sea'. Macready was a much-decorated soldier by then; he had seen active service in the Boer War from 1899 to 1902, was promoted to major general in 1910 and knighted in 1912. From 1916-18, he served as adjutant general at the War Office and subsequently commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London. The Downing Street meeting in 1920 saw him appointed general officer commanding in Ireland. As he recorded in his voluminous memoir, Annals of an Active Life, published in 1924, it would involve a task he 'instinctively felt would be affected by every variation of the political weather clock and in which it was doubtful if any satisfactory result could be achieved'. As historian Keith Jeffery observed, Macready made it clear to the British government 'that without a drive of Cromwellian severity (which was politically quite unacceptable) no military solution was possible in Ireland'. The extent to which Macready's mind was imbued with imperialism is evident in his depiction of the Irish as an inferior race: 'a people characterised through past centuries by lack of discipline, intolerance of restraint and with no common standard of public morality'; the sort who could only be governed and held in check 'under the protection of a strong military governor'. Taking soundings after he arrived in Dublin, he spoke to one woman who claimed to be a direct descendant of a Cromwellian soldier, who told him the solution to the problem of Irish republicans: 'Shoot them all, General, shoot them all'. Macready noted wryly that this would have been 'a very effective policy if it could have been carried to a logical conclusion'. But he knew it could not be. He accepted that an eventual settlement with Irish enemies would be necessary and was appointed precisely because of his well-attuned political antennae. He also recognised that civil and social factors had to be considered when designing military strategy, believing, despite his personal prejudices, that 'no amount of coercion would settle the Irish question'. READ MORE He also parroted the usual tropes about the Irish and, indeed, the myth of British soldiers' purity, expressing himself 'astonished at the self-restraint and discipline maintained by the troops ... under provocation such as no other troops in the world would have withstood'. But whatever about his extended propaganda and disdain for armchair generals and politicians, he knew he was not in control of British policy in Ireland and that his job would be dictated by the 'the spasmodic movements of the political pendulum'. Those swings were ultimately to be influenced by the desire for a political solution and the opening of dialogue with the IRA . The great tragedy of Israel 's war on Gaza is the absence of a restraining political pendulum and the merging of Israeli political and military strategies. Exactly a year ago, the death toll in Gaza was 37,000 and much attention was given to a UN inquiry highlighting war crimes. Today, the death toll is above 55,000. Israel is still led by a Binyamin Netanyahu who, more than 30 years ago, decried compromise with Palestinians and accused Israeli politicians who advocated dialogue of being 'criminals of peace' who would 'face the trial of history'. Netanyahu has consistently peddled the myth that the way to peace is to build Israel's might. He sustains his career with the idea that the Jewish people live in a constant state of fundamental insecurity and that Palestinians have no ancient connection to the land of Israel. His political longevity is such that his biographer in 2018, Anshel Pfeffer, notes how he came to believe 'the prime minister's office was his by right'. Likewise, veteran Israeli political scientist Arye Naor has written of how 'he negates the possibility that any explanation might be accepted other than that which he proposes'. He can do this because of woefully insufficient international pressure, US financial backing and because UN resolutions demanding a ceasefire are still vetoed. [ Protest planned in Israel at marriage of Netanyahu's son Opens in new window ] In 2025, the Israeli version of 'Cromwellian severity' has been chillingly defined by Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich : 'We're occupying, cleansing and staying there until Hamas is destroyed'. This military strategy will never lead to the permanent fulfilment of Netanyahu's aims; the 'war and victory' plan to 'take control of the entire territory' using what he calls 'the most moral army in the world'. But in the meantime, what was deemed politically unacceptable by British imperialists more than a century ago, because of domestic and international pressure and the recognition of the impossibility of peace by means of long-term coercion, is permitted today, at hideous cost.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Semi-state CEOs: What do they earn and should they be paid more?
In the early part of last year, the then minister for housing Darragh O'Brien received warnings from the boards of three commercial companies under his remit that their operations were facing serious potential difficulties. The chairmen of Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) , Uisce Éireann and the Land Development Agency maintained that government-imposed pay restrictions for their top executives posed 'very real and serious risks' to the work of the organisations. 'The boards of GNI and Uisce Éireann have expressed serious concerns to the minister about the potential loss of the CEO at a critical time for both companies which are significant in scale and complexity', the secretary general of the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle, told a top-level pay review that had been established several months earlier by the cabinet. He told the group that 'the risks associated with these challenges must be fully understood in the context of the concerns being raised by the chairs and their boards and appropriate consideration of mitigating steps to address these risks may be considered as part of your review'. READ MORE [ Eamon Ryan backed higher pay and bonuses to attract best CEOs to commercial State bodies Opens in new window ] It was against this backdrop of such warnings, that the Government in April changed the rules governing pay determination for chief executives in nearly 30 commercial companies owned by the State. Over the coming months boardrooms will look again, under a new system, at how much they should be paying their chief executives. It is clear that many believe that their top executives are not being paid enough, but felt their hands were tied to a large degree by controls that had been in place for 14 years. This led, some boards maintained, to a lopsided pay structure whereby some CEOs earned less than subordinates. Boards and senior figures in their parent departments also expressed concern that CEOs did not receive increments or cost-of-living rises. Performance bonuses, banned since 2011 for most chief executives, were still paid to other executives. This all meant the pay gap between the CEO and others in some companies had narrowed or disappeared completely. Some boards, as O'Brien was warned, feared losing bosses to more lucrative roles elsewhere. Such concerns were not new. For several years a number of boards had been pressing ministers to reform rules governing top-level pay that dated back to the economic crash well over a decade ago. In 2011 the then minister for public expenditure Brendan Howlin introduced, with some exceptions, a general pay cap of €250,000 for chief executives in commercial State companies. There was, he said, in light of the ongoing severe economic conditions facing the country at the time, a need for leadership to be shown by those who held high office across the public sector In the interim, pay rises have been approved for CEOs in such companies on a case-by-case basis. Last year the then government agreed a €50,000 increase for the salary of the new chief executive of EirGrid, the State company that develops, manages and operates the electricity grid, bringing the rate to about €300,000. This followed representations made by the then minister for environment, climate and communications, Eamon Ryan . Figures published generally as part of annual reports show that in several cases pay rates are above the figures set in 2011, but not by a considerable amount. Published figures show that An Post chief executive David McRedmond's total remuneration came to €318,000 in 2023. ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes had a total remuneration package of €372,946. Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson had a total package of €276,000 in 2023 while DAA boss Kenny Jacobs 's overall remuneration came to €347,457 in the same year. [ John McManus: Kenny Jacobs's €374,830 salary is a soft target; the problem lies elsewhere Opens in new window ] But there had not been any systematic review of CEO total pay since the Howlin rules were introduced in 2011. Almost exactly 14 years later the current Minister Jack Chambers said a new approach was needed. He said in the coming years many CEOs in commercial State bodies would be required 'to deliver significant projects whilst managing the funding and financing of these projects'. He said fair and appropriate remuneration was a key element in the recruitment and retention of CEOs of commercial State bodies who are critical to the State's future development and economic performance. The Minister said the pay review group had 'concluded that the current system of CEO remuneration and contracts is not optimal in serving the interests of the commercial State bodies, the State or the taxpayer'. Many chief executives can expect to see significant pay rises as the companies move pay towards market rates under new structures put in place. However, there will not be a free-for-all. While boards will receive greater freedom, some rules will still apply. And while the Cabinet agreed to implement most of the 17 recommendations put forward by the Senior Posts Remuneration Committee (SPRC), it did not accept all of them. Chambers said the upper limit on any proposed package would be the market rate rather than 120 per cent of it. He said there would be no backdating of any increases to May 1st of last year, another committee recommendation, and no reintroduction of performance-related bonuses worth up to 25 per cent of salaries, which was also proposed both by the SPRC and by some ministers in the previous government. Chambers said a banded pay structure would be implemented for CEOs ranging from their current salary to the market median of the relevant band. 'In line with the SPRC findings in relation to increased flexibility for boards, the boards will propose a point on the banded salary structure ranging from the current fixed-point salary to the relevant market median.' Ministers will still have to give approval for salary proposals for chief executives in commercial State companies operating in their areas of responsibility and the Department of Public Expenditure will also have to give its consent. Boards may have been arguing for years that they needed to compete on pay to secure top talent, but the cautious approach adopted by Ministers over recent years shows the political nervousness surrounding remuneration at the highest levels of the State sector. The new pay structures can be traced back to March 2022 when then minister for public expenditure Paschal Donohoe established an independent review panel to look at processes for recruiting top management in the public sector and the mechanisms for determining pay and conditions. On foot of its report, the cabinet in March 2024 established the SPRC, chaired by chartered accountant Maeve Carton (who is a governor of The Irish Times Trust) and set as its first priority a review of pay rates of CEOs in commercial State bodies. Analysis carried out by SPRC found in terms of base salary, 20 of the 28 commercial State bodies were below 80 per cent of the market median – equivalent to 68 per cent of market median on average – when it came to remuneration for chief executives. About 15 commercial State companies made submissions to the SPRC. However, the Department of Public Expenditure has refused to release these documents, partly on the grounds that it had 'provided assurances to the relevant parties that sensitive personal information would be treated in confidence'. However, the internal papers of the earlier Independent Review Panel showed a host of commercial State companies wanted greater freedom and flexibility in setting top-level pay rates and believed that arrangements in place since 2011 were too restrictive. Several want to be permitted to reintroduce bonus or performance payments for their chief executives. ESB told the independent panel that to attract and retain the best talent, the company must have 'competitive and market-facing remuneration for everyone in the organisation including the chief executive'. It suggested salary ranges that were in place before the crash in 2008 should be reinstated; that there should be an external review of the commercial State sector every three or five years which would place companies in a particular band; and that, internally, the chairman and the board would have the flexibility to set a competitive remuneration package for the chief executive. While the Department of Public Expenditure has contended that individual company submissions to the SPRC are private and off-limits, Carton had sought Ministers to make submissions about CEO pay in companies in their own areas. A number of these submissions provide insights into the thinking of both the boards as well as of Ministers and senior civil servants in their line departments. Many of the State commercial companies come within the transport and energy sectors and Ryan as minister covering both areas in the last government submitted comprehensive documents. Catherine Martin and Stephen Donnelly also made submissions as did Doyle, secretary general at the Department of Housing. The Department of Agriculture also set out its position in relation to pay at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) and the Irish National Stud (INS). The department said it understood that 'difficulties have been experienced by some State bodies in recruitment and/or retention at this level'. It revealed that on receipt of business cases made by the commercial State bodies, it had approved the departure from the 2011 salary ranges for new appointees to CEO posts, for HRI in 2021 and in 2023. The Department of Public Expenditure had given consent in both cases. It said the basic salary levels were: HRI €191,000; RCÉ €160,000 and INS €110,569. Ryan told the SPRC that 12 commercial organisations came under his remit as minister for transport and that some had experienced difficulties in attracting and retaining chief executives. He proposed that there could be one arrangement for agencies that operated in a highly competitive setting and a different approach for those who provided 'more in way of a public service'. 'Given the sector-specific context and diversity in play, a one-size-fits-all approach is not working in attracting talent, particularly when international consideration and comparators are taken into account,' he wrote. Ryan wanted government departments and agencies to have greater freedom to offer more competitive packages, including performance bonuses and increments, when seeking CEOs for commercial State bodies. He also supported more flexibility on the duration of contracts, with an option to extend the time in the role. Ryan's submission also revealed, based on 2023 figures, that at airport operator DAA, three personnel earned more than the CEO , who received €347,457 in total remuneration that year. The submission said this was also the case before the appointment of the current chief executive in 2023. Ryan's Department of Environment, Climate and Communications also said the board of the ESB had 'significant concern' that the salary for company's chief executive was insufficient for retaining an appropriately skilled person for the role. 'The chair of ESB has also noted the current salary as insufficient to attract the calibre of candidate sought for the role in comparison to alternative employment options available to them.' In an appendix to Ryan's submission, last summer, officials said at that point the post of ESB chief executive had a salary of €318,000. The submission said this was also the case before the appointment of the current chief executive in 2023. The then minister for health, Stephen Donnelly, said while some form of policy was necessary regarding chief executive remuneration in the commercial State sector, 'a strong case can be made for those bodies which do not have recourse to the State for funding to be dealt with in a different manner to reflect this'. State-owned health insurer VHI came under Donnelly's remit. The Department of Arts and Media under former minister Catherine Martin backed increasing the €250,000 pay rate for the head of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst , as it said it had fallen considerably in real terms due to rising living costs. The department also supported a higher salary for the director general of TG4, which stands at just over €160,000. The department said the salaries attributable to the director general positions in both broadcasters had 'declined significantly in real terms since 2016 and have not taken account of cost-of-living pressures'. Doyle's submission said remuneration for the CEO at GNI and Uisce Éireann included a fixed-base salary of €225,000 with no provision for increments or indexation. The packages also included private health insurance for the CEO, spouse and dependent children. The submission said in both companies there were two employees paid more than the chief executive. It maintained that two executives had left both companies in the previous 12 months.
