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

I thank the sponsors of the Bill for affording me the opportunity to speak. I did not speak on any of the previous Stages of the Bill. My two colleagues, Deputies Jim O'Callaghan and Lisa Chambers, represented us on the committee.

I completely concur with everything Deputy Murphy is after saying. As spokesperson for children, one thing I do know about crèches is that they normally do not take babies of less than nine months of age. That is part of the rules in most crèches. In the case of children under the age of one, the adult-to-child ratio must be 1:3, which is most expensive for a crèche to operate. This is what crèches are getting out of the business of doing. By increasing the entitlement from 18 weeks to 26 weeks, we would basically be affording a family the opportunity to choose to spend the first year of their baby's life with their baby if they want to do so. I also agree that not every family has that family support in the very beginning whereby they can return to work with the support of either the mother, the father or extended family. The parents themselves would like to care for their own. It is also proven statistically that early intervention and minding one's own in the very beginning aids development at key milestones, so the Bill is a very positive step. It also allows parents flexibility and is about helping them.

I absolutely welcome the Minister of State's comments on the programme for Government and paid leave, but tonight's conversation is about the unpaid aspect of it. As a mother of three children, I looked forward to the opportunity to take my unpaid leave after my paid leave. I think parents like that opportunity. It is a choice; it is not forced on them.

As for employers, it is not a cost to them to give parents unpaid leave. It is all about how one engages and communicates with one's employer in order that the employer has adequate notice to put provisions in place if it knows the employee is taking that extended time. In my previous work, we had to give a month's notice before we took the additional unpaid leave. However, once we did so, the employer was able to make provisions for it.

As Deputy O'Sullivan said, this is not the contentious part of the Bill. I think that will come later. I will support the Bill.

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