Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to take this opportunity to wish Deputy Ó Caoláin the very best in his role as Chairman of the committee. I have had a very constructive working relationship with this committee and I look forward to working with all members of it in the months ahead. My Department and I will be as helpful as we possibly can.

I wish to start by saying how privileged I am to be able to bring forward this Bill today. It is worth saying at the outset - I think members would agree with me - that it is a groundbreaking Bill in the Irish context. We are recognising the role of fathers in the care of young children and taking the first step in meeting our programme for Government commitment to move to paid leave to cover the entire first year after the birth of a child.

I will table a number of amendments on Report Stage, which I want to flag at this point, with the permission of the Chairman. I will table amendments to section 2 and a number of other sections that relate to male same-sex couples who adopt. The intention of the Bill is to cater for same-sex couples on the same basis as any other couple. However, due to the interaction between a number of Acts - the Marriage Act 2015, the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015, specifically section 177, which has not yet been commenced, the Adoptive Leave Act 1995, which provides for adoptive leave for an adopting mother only, and the Adoption Acts, to which there is an amending Bill before the Oireachtas at present - there is a technical difficulty regarding same-sex male couples who adopt and I need to sort that out, with the permission of the committee, on Report Stage. I will table the necessary amendments to ensure that paternity leave is available to male same-sex couples who adopt and there will be some consequential amendments to section 37 of the Bill, on page 35, in lines 16 and 17, to change the proposed reference in the Workplace Relations Act to "adopting mother, sole male adopter" to "adopting parent". This will be dealt with; it is just not in the Bill at present. In addition, on the same page, at lines 7 and 8, there will be an amendment to the provision relating to the day of placement, having the meaning assigned to it by the 1995 Act, as it is now the case that there will be a stand-alone definition of "day placement" in the Bill itself.

In addition, sections 30 and 31 in Part 5 of the Bill, which in turn make the necessary amendments to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to provide for paternity benefit, will need to be amended. It is not possible to resolve the larger anomaly, namely, that the Adoptive Leave Acts do not allow adoptive leave for one of a male same-sex couple. This is because the leave is available to an adopting mother only. We have consulted the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Adoption Authority in this regard. There have not been any sole male domestic adopters in the past three years and there are currently no domestic adoptions by a same-sex couple in the assessment process, so it looks like there will not be any over the next 12 to 18 months.

There is, however, the possibility of a same-sex couple registering a foreign adoption here and subsequently moving to Ireland, but it is a small number.

The anomaly does need to be fixed and it will be. Members of the committee know that I need to have this paternity Bill dealt with in order that we can start payment of paternity benefit in September. Amendments will need to be made to the adoption Acts at a later point to deal with that issue, certainly not later than the end of next year. It may possibly be dealt with in the Bill that will be published in the next session to allow ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We are committed to ratifying the convention before the end of the year.

I will also table an amendment to section 22 of the Bill to ensure an employee will be protected against any threat of penalisation.

Would the Cathaoirleach like me to turn to amendments Nos. 1 and 19 at this point?