Cork East Fine Gael TD and Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton has launched a public consultation on the forthcoming National Women’s Strategy with An Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD. The will be open from today, 23 November 2016 until Friday 27 January 2017 at 5pm.

“I am delighted to launch, with An Tanaiste, this public consultation on the new National Women’s Strategy which will set out the Government’s high level priorities for women and girls until 2020. We are committed to achieving equality for women and girls and this strategy provides the framework to tackle barriers which limit women’s opportunities.

“Irish society has changed significantly over the past decade however while we have made some advances to improve the lives of women and girls, a lot more needs to be done. The strategy will form the blueprint to advance women’s equality over the next four years”, said Minister Stanton.

“We want to hear from women and men across the country about how we can advance women’s equality. I would encourage anyone interested in informing government policy to use this opportunity to contribute to the consultation and put forward their views on the new National Women’s Strategy.

“Full details of how to make a submission are available on the Department of Justice Gender Equality Division website http://www.genderequality.ie . In addition to making a written submission, some public consultation events on the new strategy will also take place in a number of locations in December and January and details of the dates and venues will be announced soon.

“We envisage that the new National Women’s Strategy will be finalised and launched in early 2017”, concluded Minister Stanton.