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

I thank Deputy Dillon for his questions. We had a series of round table engagements. I will briefly outline the history of this legislation. It was introduced in the previous Dáil but it fell when that Dáil was wound up. Up to that point, we had engaged with people who were providing services within the community. I refer here to people running the refuges as well as representatives of Women's Aid, Safe Ireland and other organisations. We also engaged with victims and survivors. Some of that happened organically because once we started talking about this issue, people came to us and that gave us a very real perspective on the issue. That work was done.

Feedback from employers and through employer forums has been very positive. Vodafone and Danske Bank are leading the way on this. They have already done it because they recognise a number of important points. First, in an ideal world, nobody would need this legislation but they have found that in terms of attracting employees, having this leave as part of a suite of measures that make people feel safe at work is very positive. We also know that Safe Ireland and the National University of Ireland in Galway, NUIG, have conducted research into the cost and there is a cost to employers in not providing this leave.

The reason for the ten days is very simple. That is what has been done in other jurisdictions. If one looks at NUIG, it chose ten days which it judged to be both proportionate and fair. It considered it fair to victims and survivors and proportionate in the context of employers.