Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have some time to speak about this Bill. It is important that we have proper legislation in this area and it is too late for many people. The flexible working patterns which have existed are interesting. Cross-country comparative research on parental leave shows that in Ireland there remains a substantial gap between the end of leave, including the merging of paid and unpaid leave entitlements and early childhood education care entitlements as well.

We must have a broad suite of facilities that will suit shared parental leave for both parents. It is also important that we look at our European counterparts. A case has been made regarding the levels of attendance at formal services for children under the age of three and that being in line with the average situation throughout Europe. We know how important and how much of a huge step it is to bring a child into the world. Both parents are needed in a supportive role. In the olden days, what prevented that was that women got all the leave and the men got none. Now, however, both parents will have to get leave. For adoptive parents especially, it is vital that we have a situation where it is possible for them under this Bill to get their proper entitlements to leave.

The Bill sets out to amend the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 to enable couples, regardless of sex, who have jointly adopted to choose which member of the couple will avail of adoptive leave. It also amends the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 to increase the duration of parent's leave, as well as associated entitlements to parental benefits, from two to five weeks. That is very important, because goodness knows time flies so fast. It can be a tiring and difficult time and there can also be issues with births, so parents need that kind of time and space.

This legislation also amends the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 to increase the number of ordinary members of the board of Tusla from seven to nine. I have been very critical of Tusla in the past and I am still critical of that agency in many respects. I do not know if increasing the board membership by two will achieve the kinds of changes required. It is in the Bill, but to digress a small bit the whole conception and creation of this Tusla organisation was rushed. Certain sections of the HSE were just hived off to set up Tusla. The agency has much to learn and there are many shortcomings in the organisation. I have cases brought to me regularly concerning families who are very dissatisfied. I am also often contacted by members of An Garda Síochána who end up as a baby-sitting service on weekends when Tusla is not available. Cases reported at 3 p.m. or 3.30 p.m. on a Friday evening necessitate members of the Garda getting involved and that is rough justice. It is not proper. Therefore, there are areas in Tusla which need to be examined.

The Family Leave Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 follows on from the general scheme of the proposed parent's leave and benefit (amendment) Bill 2020, which thankfully was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration in February 2021.

The Business Committee is constantly asked to schedule Bills without pre-legislative scrutiny. Thankfully, this was not one of them because it is too serious and too important, and pre-legislative scrutiny was vital.

While the Bill will provide for changes to the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019, the change of the Title from "Family Leave Bill" arises due to the inclusion of measures to amend the Adoptive Leave Act 1995. The Bill digest states:

By means of background, family leave policies are intended to bolster and support gender equality. They are also important policy instruments for supporting child, maternal and paternal health and well-being, birth rates and various labour-market outcomes, such as increased women’s participation in the labour market and reduced gender pay gaps.

That is very important because childcare is a very female-orientated profession. I was chairperson of a board that looks after childcare and was involved in its set-up. There are many issues. We must be ever cognisant, when we are passing legislation such as this that looks fine and dandy, of respecting the employer's perspective and look at it where they are coming from. I am an employer myself, although, because of the nature of the business, I employ mainly male workers. We must consider the impact that legislation such as this will have on the ability of employers to abide by it. It is better to use the carrot than the stick, with encouragement rather than regulation, to make them do what they should.

It is important, like with other Bills, that there is some assessment of how it beds in. While pre-legislative scrutiny looks at one end of the process, we must also have post-legislative scrutiny. Deputy Pringle tabled important amendments to another Bill, which came before the House two weeks ago, that would have provided for time-sensitive reviews of the impact of the legislation. For the Bill before us, too, that will be necessary because we need to see how it beds in and how employers can cope with it. It is one thing for the public service, given that the pay does not come from the employer's fund but rather from the public purse, but for small employers and small businesses this can have unintended consequences.

See this speech in context