Dáil debates

Thursday, 31 May 2018

Maternity Protection (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

6:25 pm

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If we were serious about wanting to improve female participation and recognising our voices, in particular in the week that is in it when we hear of all the women on both sides of the referendum campaign who fought the good fight, yet at the end of the day here we are trying to bring women to the highest office and showing them all of the opportunities but we do it at 7.40 p.m. on a Thursday evening. We are lucky that is only 7.40 p.m., given that the Bill was not due to begin until 8.50 p.m. I am working on another item of legislation currently on sitting hours within the Houses of the Oireachtas. We must think about how we organise our working day. However, first, it is most important to address the barrier presented by the lack of maternity leave. It is hard to believe that county councillors cannot miss a meeting under the relevant statutory instrument. If they miss two meetings they could be struck off. That is the reason we introduced the Maternity Protection (Local Government Members) Bill 2017.

I do not say the Bill before us is perfect. It is open to much improvement and we would welcome improvement. I would like the Bill to go through to Committee Stage. That would be a step in the right direction. If nothing else it would be setting down a marker in order that female colleagues working here can be supported to go on maternity leave if they choose to do so. I would welcome the support of the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, for the Bill.

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