Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am slightly concerned about what bedtime stories in the Carroll MacNeill household contain but I am grateful to Deputy Higgins for that elusive comment. I sincerely welcome this Bill and I thank Deputy Carroll MacNeill for introducing it.

If it was not for a global pandemic, there is no chance I would have had any paternity leave with my second child. I distinctly remember leaving the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street for a vote in the Seanad two days after the birth of my first child. It was not much craic for me, the child or my wife and I am still regularly reminded of it. This goes to the point that our democracy is not fit for purpose in representative terms. There are far too many archaic barriers to ensuring this Parliament is truly representative of the entire society. This Bill goes a small way to rectifying that but I hope it is sincerely, as Deputy Alan Farrell has mentioned, the start of a general approach to relooking at how we do parliamentary democracy in this country. We should use the examples of other countries and use the opportunities and lessons of the pandemic to produce a much better form of parliamentary democracy. I referenced access to paternity leave, and far more importantly, I want to reference access to maternity leave for Members of the Oireachtas. What also requires due consideration is those who might require sick leave or have become immunocompromised, and their ability to carry out their duties as Members of the Oireachtas.

I reference the case of Amy Callaghan, who is the Member of the Parliament in Westminster for East Dunbartonshire for the Scottish National Party. This week, against doctor’s orders she has returned to the UK Parliament so that she can vote and speak on a Bill. She is putting her life at risk as an immunocompromised person who suffered a serious brain haemorrhage not so long ago in order to simply do her job. The fact is the Houses of Parliament were able to make changes to maternity leave but we have to see it through to make sure these changes are fully encompassing.

As Deputy Carroll MacNeill mentioned, I was one of the Oireachtas Members who sat on the Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament. Over the course of a number of meetings, all held virtually under the good chairpersonship of Mary Upton, a number of issues came out. The report has been put in every Member’s pigeon hole at this stage and I hope they all have a chance to read it. I appreciate that some of the 54 recommendations are probably far-reaching and not realistic. It showed the dynamic of having a forum made up of parliamentarians along with people from the private sector, the NGO sector, and society at large. There is some obvious and low-hanging fruit and there are some obvious wins that could make this democracy so much more inclusive and accessible. I fundamentally believe the passage of this Bill and, in due course, the passage of a related referendum, is one of those obvious things. I am slightly concerned that when an opinion poll about this Bill was put up on one of the news sites, there was quite a lot of opposition to it. The commentary that ensued was the type of anti-politics and anti-democratic commentary that all of us have a responsibility, regardless of party and of whether we agree with this legislation or not, to combat. That goes for everything we do in this House and in these Houses but it is of major concern.

I refer to the semi-related point of privilege. One of the things that struck those of us who were members of the forum – I hope it struck all of us in recent months – was the situation in committees. We were all dialled into meetings but we all had to travel into Leinster House to make use of privilege.

It is absolutely farcical and it should be changed. That would give Deputies and Senators, particularly those from outside Dublin, the opportunity to participate in committee meetings on Tuesdays while gaining a precious four hours or 24 hours with their families at home.

I commend this Bill and look forward to supporting it through all Stages. I also look forward to campaigning in a referendum to amend the Constitution very soon.

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