Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputies Shortall and Catherine Murphy for introducing this important legislation. It will not come as a surprise to many people to hear that Fianna Fáil will support the legislation. The reason it will not come as a surprise is that when Fianna Fáil was in government back in 1998 it introduced the Parental Leave Act. It was also Fianna Fáil, when in government in 2006, that introduced the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act. They had the effect of providing parental leave up to a period of 14 weeks. As the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, said, it was the former Minister, Alan Shatter, who increased it from 14 weeks to 18 weeks.

The legislation was introduced in 1998 partly due to the fact there was a European directive that had to be transposed into Irish law. However, the legislation was also introduced because there was a recognition of the extraordinary burdens being placed on working parents at that time, at the end of the last century. If anything, those pressures have increased on parents today who find themselves in difficult situations where they have to devote huge amounts of time to their work lives. Only limited amounts of time are being devoted to looking after their children and indeed to watching their children growing up. Most people will agree having a child is one of the most fulfilling things a person can do.

We sometimes talk about the rights of the child. Children, of course, have many rights. We should not ignore the fact that parents have a right as well to enjoy the upbringing of their children. Childhood passes quickly. It probably does not pass that quickly for children but it passes very quickly for parents. The heart of the proposed legislation recognises that parents want to be as much a part of their children's growing up as possible.

One of the advantages of being self-employed is being able to devote as much or as little time to one's work as possible. There are many disadvantages to being self-employed in that if one does not work, one does not get paid. However, there are advantages in self-employment over those employed in contractual relationships. This legislation deals with the latter. It deals with circumstances where parents are in employment and feel they want to devote more time to enjoying their children's childhood and to take time off in order to participate in that. Like many people in this House, I would like to see a situation where we have paid parental leave. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, spoke about that and he is correct.

I know the proposers of the Bill, and probably every other Deputy who will speak on it, are in favour of that. One of the downsides of having unpaid parental leave is that to a large extent, and I do not have the statistics but I suspect this is the case, it is the mother who engages in the parental leave and who takes the time off. It must also be recognised that parental leave can only be taken, when two parents are bringing up a child, if those parents and that family can survive on one income. I know there is nothing discriminatory about parental leave but that point must encourage the Government to do as much as possible to expedite the introduction of paid parental leave.

I was pleased to hear the Minister of State say the Government has set up an interdepartmental working group to develop proposals to give effect to A Programme for a Partnership Government. Deputy Shortall said that the first time she heard the Government making any points in respect of this was after the introduction of this legislation. I welcome the fact it is in A Programme for a Partnership Government. However, I would also be interested to know when the interdepartmental working group was established. I do that not for the purpose of trying to have a political row. It will be important for the determination of what is the level of commitment within Government to introducing paid parental leave. The Minister of State can go back to his Government colleagues and say there will be significant if not universal support for the proposal if that legislation can be brought forward.

The Minister of State also mentioned how he would favour pre-legislative scrutiny for Opposition Bills. In fairness, he said this to me before. It is important to make the point, however, that it is not the case that Opposition Bills are not subjected to pre-legislative scrutiny. They are. The only difference is that scrutiny takes place on Committee Stage. The Minister of State may be correct in stating that it would be preferable if legislative scrutiny took place in advance of publication of the Bill. That, however, may ignore the political realities of life on the Opposition benches. Opposition parties do not have the same ability to ask departmental groups or civic groups in society to produce working papers, to come back with those and reconsider legislation from them. There is a certain immediacy to life in Opposition.

The proposal at the heart of the legislation is to introduce parental leave from 18 weeks up to 26 weeks. There needs to be some recognition that this is available. I am concerned that at present there is not much awareness that parents can take leave in respect of their children up to their eighth birthday. Alternatively, they can take parental leave in respect of a child who has a disability or a long-term illness up to the age of 16. I do not know if there is the same level of awareness about those rights that individuals have in the same way as there is awareness about the rights of mothers in particular to maternity leave. Recently, a proposal in respect of fathers paternity leave was enacted.

However, at the heart of this debate is the fact that we have to recognise as a society that there is more to life than work. Many working parents are stretched to the limit by having to get up at inordinately early hours. They have to bring their children to a crèche. It is usually a lengthy drive in order to be near a place where they work. They then have to drive home in the evening, on many occasions having collected their child late from work. In many instances, people are leaving the house at 7 a.m. in the morning and only getting back at 7 p.m. in the evening. They only get a couple of weeks holiday a year. There is a time when people have to recognise there is more to life than work. We cannot just have a situation where parents devote themselves to working for some big employment group, which is simply generating profits for the owners of that company, while at the same time, they do not get the enjoyment from the great experience of their children growing up.

I welcome the legislation and Fianna Fáil supports it. It will come to the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality at which legislative scrutiny will take place. I suspect the proposers of the Bill will have no objection to that as it is a worthwhile process to go through. If the Government wants to bring forward its own proposals on paid parental leave, it will meet with a very favourable response not just from Fianna Fáil but I suspect from every Member of this House. Once again I commend the Deputies on introducing the legislation which will get Fianna Fáil's support on Second Stage.

See this speech in context