Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 June 2018

Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages [Private Members]

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a number of points about this. Deputy Shortall has made the point that this is and should be in addition to paid leave. There is a marked difference in how we approach children and childcare compared with many of our European counterparts, which see people having children as a good thing that needs to be supported in order that society can replenish itself and have people grow up into solid human beings. These countries take a very good approach to the amount of leave provided in the first few years, particularly in the first year. I ask the Minister to consider the example of someone who has had a baby and got her maternity leave. If she has family to mind the baby in order that she can go back to work, that is fine, but for the first year it is in many cases nearly impossible to get a crèche place, for example. Many crèches simply will not take a baby under the age of one. Furthermore, while very often we try to encourage very practical and positive things for a baby such as breastfeeding, the baby may not be weaned. This approach allows for what should be very much a child-centred approach. It seems to me that when it comes to the balance of rights and the balance of how society looks at this, it tends to look at it from an employer's perspective rather than from a child's perspective. Whereas this is a modest proposal, it is an important one because it may well be that a small number of extra weeks give that flexibility that has been talked about.

There are, therefore, very practical reasons this initiative could be of assistance not to everyone, but certainly to those who can take it up. A point has been made about the cost of childcare. Childcare is very expensive anyway, but childcare in year one is particularly expensive, and that is if one can get it. This is why this flexibility is something that employers should actually welcome, and I am surprised there is any question at all of there being a constitutional issue about this.

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