Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and I were present at the virtual launch of the policy, which is being spearheaded by Dr. Nata Duvvury in the gender studies department of the university. Those involved in its creation noted it was something that was already happening in the private sector. They asked themselves whether they could introduce such a policy. They had been working with Safe Ireland to analyse the impact on the employer and the €56 billion cost. They took elements of this legislation and incorporated it into their policy. I had several meetings with Dr. Duvvury and the human resources department of the university. I have talked to the people who will be using the policy. It was incorporated into existing policies. They did it as we are proposing to do it, that is, as part of normal leave. They also undertook awareness training and a publicity campaign across the college, which they felt was positive. They only did this last May so we are not yet in a position to look back in enough detail to be able to say how it has worked and not worked thus far. However, my understanding from speaking to them is that it has worked very well and has been a positive experience for them. Certainly at the launch, they were very positive about it. They had used the provisions of this legislation and incorporated it into their own leave. That was how they did it.