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

Like my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the Bill and to speak on it. It is important that it provides each parent of a child under the age of one with two weeks' paid parental leave. It is concerning, however, that the Bill, when it passes, will come into effect on 1 November, which is only two weeks away. This does not really give employers a lot of time to put arrangements in place, which is extremely regrettable.

When the general scheme of the Bill was published in April, it was promised that it would remedy a lacuna in law which meant that married gay fathers were not entitled to adoptive leave or benefit. It is really bad that while the Government has been promising to rectify this, it is not happening. We were very surprised when the Bill was published a week ago to see that that provision had disappeared. While I have respect for the Minister of State, the excuse that the Government did not have time to draft the relevant provisions is simply not good enough. This has very real consequences for the LGBT community, and it is completely discriminatory against gay fathers, and indeed their children, who would benefit, as we all know, from extra time with their parents, no matter their sex. This legal loophole is not being rectified, and again, it is disappointing that the amendments Fianna Fáil tabled to address it have been ruled out of order. We absolutely want to work to ensure that this is addressed because it is important.

The final point I will make concerns the shared maternity leave Bill that my colleague, Deputy Lisa Chambers, and I introduced last year. That Bill would provide for the sharing of maternity leave. Again, this would be of great benefit to parents and we would like to see it progressed by Government.

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