Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I found the comments of the Minister not only aggressive, as was mentioned, but quite patronising and condescending not only towards the Members who introduced this Bill but to the women of this country. Basically, she was telling the women of this country that their place is in the home if they have a child. Many women make the choice to stay at home and that is fantastic for them, but there are many others who choose not to work in the home either because of economic necessity or because of a social desire. It is important that we give women the opportunity to work outside the home or be at home with their children, but the essential point is that choice.

I believe the Minister was misinformed. She spoke about us breaching EU legislation with respect to what we said. The EU requires a minimum of 14 weeks’ maternity benefit to be available, only two of which must be taken by the mother. It is understandable a mother would take at least two weeks because obviously there is a recovery period after pregnancy and childbirth. Other European countries have brought in legislation to allow parents to share the maternity benefit period. For example, the UK allows parents to share all weeks except two weeks immediately before or after the birth. In Portugal, parents are able to take 120 or 150 days, with 42 days reserved for the mother and the remaining leave can be shared. We have made it very clear at all points that we can amend the Bill to include a period of compulsory leave. This is completely separate from the EU work life balance directive, which states that there must be a minimum four-month parental leave period to be taken before a child turns 12 years of age.

Since I sought to introduce this Bill, a number of individuals contacted Deputy Lisa Chambers and myself to give their support to it and suggested that following the 26 week period, the other 14 weeks, which are unpaid, could be used also. They thought that was a very good idea.

If we seriously want to reduce the 14% gender pay gap between men and women, boosting paternity leave entitlements and uptake is a vital step. More fathers taking longer periods of leave in place of mothers will improve the drop in women's salaries and career prospects following childbirth. That is important. Following on from that, employers would be less likely to discriminate against women when hiring and promoting employees. This Bill certainly provides the opportunity to create real social change both in the home and in the workplace. We need to avoid self-censorship by men who feel that if they take the leave, they would be sending out a signal that their work is not important to them.

A sea change in terms of attitudes and workplace culture is necessary. Despite what the Minister said, parents are the best judges of what works best for themselves and their babies. The intent of this Bill is to grant those parents the flexibility to make decisions regarding what works for them as a family. It allows for greater involvement by both parents in their children's lives and facilitates greater gender equality. We are aware that these provisions exist in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the UK and Germany. Sweden was the first country to introduce these benefits in 1974. Each parent there is entitled to up to three months.

There are many benefits to a father playing a more active role in his child's life and many of them are prevented from doing this by financial and cultural barriers. However, the high-profile Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook publicly took two months’ leave when his daughter was born in 2015, and he could afford to do so, but this sent a very clear message to the tech world and that has filtered through the organisation. In the Dublin office, full-time employees who become parents but are not entitled to maternity leave are offered four months of paid baby leave. A Fianna Fáil councillor in Kildare has had the opportunity to do that and they said it was fantastic.

The OECD research shows that fathers’ use of parental leave is highest when leave is not just paid but well paid, or half of normal earnings, so the level of payment is very important. Fair play to companies such as Facebook, Twitter and KPMG because they top up the employee's paternity benefit in such a way as they top up maternity benefit.

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