Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Bill, as I would welcome any Bill which seeks to improve the rights and employment conditions of workers. However, it is disappointing that the Bill delivers very little for women seeking to combine motherhood with work. All its provisions are minimal and do not seek to make any real difference to the lives of working women. Once again we have a Bill which is being sold as an achievement of social partnership, although in reality we are simply belatedly giving working women basic rights.

Maternity protection is at the forefront of the battle to bring about a better work-life balance for workers. In the words of the International Labour Organisation, "Maternity protection contributes to the fundamental principle of elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation." It is also vital in the battle to combat social exclusion and poverty. The necessity for maternity protection legislation is a recognition that in the workplace pregnant women and new mothers face many barriers. The number of pregnancy discrimination cases that have come before the Equality Authority and the courts in recent years is evidence that many employers have yet to accept the basic principles of maternity protection.

Speaking on Second Stage of the Bill in the Seanad, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Dea, stated: "It is a widely held view, supported by leave arrangements in several countries, that the best interests of infants under 12 months old are served where they remain in the direct care of their parents." It is disappointing that this principal did not guide the Government in the drafting of the Bill. This should have been used as an opportunity to facilitate mothers and fathers in caring for their children in the first years of their lives.

Maternity policy needs to be centred on the needs of parents and children first and then the employer. Employers' organisations seek to dehumanise much employment policy in a way that does not take cognisance of needs and lives of workers. Many employers are hanging on to outdated 19th-century industrialist attitudes, viewing the worker as merely another cog in the machinery of their factories. The responsibility of employers in this regard is well captured in the ILO statement: "Reproduction is a function of society [and] women workers should not bear the burden alone." Sinn Féin does not believe that the maternity leave provided for in this legislation is adequate. We are calling for the pre-confinement period to be left at four weeks and for the total period of leave to be increased to 26 weeks to allow a greater period of leave after childbirth. This is necessary given the difficulties faced by working mothers today in the area of childminding. If we do not facilitate such an increase in maternity leave we will end up forcing working mothers to leave their employment.

Breastfeeding is the right of every female worker and this must be facilitated at no loss to the worker concerned. Breastfeeding levels in this State are amongst the lowest in Europe despite the clear guidelines from the Department of Health and Children about its benefits for mother and child. The difficulties faced by workers who wish to breastfeed their babies undoubtedly plays a role in the continuation of these low levels. Other countries have achieved much higher rates through family-friendly initiatives, provision of paid breastfeeding breaks and so on.

As legislators, we must facilitate the realisation of the right of working mothers to breastfeed. In that regard, I welcome the amendment to the section dealing with breastfeeding provisions. The original provisions in the Bill were widely criticised, including by the national breastfeeding co-ordinator in the Department of Health and Children. The removal of the restrictions on the position of women whose infants are under four months old is welcome. However, many of the provisions on breastfeeding are vague and we will have to wait for the regulations from the Minister to see the detail of what is being proposed.

The qualification that the requirement on the employer to provide facilities for breastfeeding in the workplace does not hold if there are more than nominal costs involved undermines the apparent intention of the Bill, which is to facilitate working mothers who wish to breastfeed. The Bill is flawed in that there is a lack of obligation on employers to provide facilities for mothers and their babies. With regard to the provision of facilities, it is not clear what, if anything, the Bill will achieve. It is also flawed in that the reduction of working hours has not yet been set out or defined. The Bill should contain a simple entitlement to interruption of work for nursing without loss of pay. Any attempt to facilitate breastfeeding mothers in a limited and structured way will inevitably lead to difficulties for the women concerned.

There has been much talk that this Bill is a step to enable the greater participation of women in the workplace. The reality is that the Bill offers little and, without significant advances in the provision of affordable child care, more women will leave the workforce because there are either no child care places available or what is available is too expensive. Good quality child care must be made available to all, especially to those on low incomes. A universal entitlement to free pre-school must be introduced. The progress on child care to date by the Government has been miserable.

I wish to make a number of brief points about the provisions on ante-natal classes. The Bill provides that the pregnant worker will not get paid time off to attend the last three classes, on the assumption that the woman is on maternity leave. This is made increasingly unlikely by the fact that the Bill proposes to reduce the pre-confinement period of leave to a minimum of two weeks in theory. Clearly this is a case of the cost for employers being put before the health and safety of the employee. Sinn Féin will seek to amend this provision on later Stages. In addition, fathers should have the right to attend a full set of ante-natal classes since many fathers want to accompany their partners to such classes. This must be facilitated.

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