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

My experience tells me that the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is the place for it. There is no fundamental disagreement between the Minister and me and we all agree that the legislation should be drafted and brought in. If the Minister was here I would tell him that I have a Bill that is ready to go, that has been drafted by the parliamentary legal advisers, that has been scrutinised by people in the sector and that I believe will work. It does not go any further than the proposals I understand are coming from Government. The difference is one of time.

The reason I housed it within the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is that this is a workers’ rights issue and an issue of leave. The intention is that the leave would be mainstreamed with other forms of leave and would not be separate, in the margins or in the shadows. Rather it is intended that it would be a form of leave that one has an entitlement to. When I think about it I go back to when I was a shop steward and in this situation with somebody in work. I think about what I could do beyond giving them a cup of tea, a hug and a listening ear. This leave can be provided. It is not special leave; it is leave that workers have an entitlement to in the same way as bereavement or parental leave. Some of us may never use that leave. In an ideal world we would all be sitting here thinking that is a nice idea but that we do not need this. However, that is now where we are and this is necessary.

My thinking and the thinking of the party on this is that the best vehicle for it is to put it with existing forms of leave. All of those come from the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 and it is about how one organises one’s time in work so that it is put as a workers’ rights issue. That is not to say it does not have other elements. It is a housing, health and justice issue and a whole range of Departments are covered but, for me, from the people I have spoken to and from my experience, the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is where one would go for other forms of leave. I keep using the phrase “mainstreaming” and I do not mean to because this should not be mainstreamed but the Deputy understands what I mean when I say it is not a separate form of leave that is special over there. It is here in the folder or book for leave and workers can avail of it because they have an entitlement to it, not because there is a special case being made. That is the key to it. From talking to people in the trade union movement, worker representatives and people from human resource departments, their view is that this is the best way to do it simply because it means it is in the same place as other leave.