Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is timely and welcome. While the Covid-19 restrictions were in place, we saw how those created a greater need for flexible working arrangements. While Covid-19 was and still is an extremely serious issue, the lessons we have learned from it should be key to our future approach to issues around caring, disabilities and equality. This Bill sets out a framework for flexible working arrangements which offers many benefits for employees and employers. These are important tools for better assisting women and people with disabilities to work. They promote greater gender equality, work-life balance and improved child and family well-being. Many aspects of this Bill are welcome. These include the right to flexible working, the right to request compressed or reduced hours, and the introduction of five days' leave per year for serious medical care. The extension of current entitlements to breast-feeding and lactation and breaks from six months to two years is also very welcome.

Unfortunately, however, another lesson we learned from the Covid-19 restrictions was the increase in the number of reports of domestic violence. I am a member of South County Dublin's joint policing committee. Only last month, we received a report stating one in three women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. An Garda Síochána deals with between 500 and 600 calls of this nature weekly. This amounts to 30,000 such calls annually. In reality, this means that every 17 seconds a call is made to report domestic violence. This is a blight on our society.

While this legislation is a very positive development, we have several concerns, particularly regarding the domestic violence leave aspect. My colleagues Deputies McDonald and O'Reilly introduced the Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2020, which passed on Second Stage in December 2020. It is now going through legislative scrutiny in the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, of which I am a member. Any time this subject has come up, there seems to be cross-party agreement concerning what this Bill is about. Sinn Féin's proposed legislation, therefore, is comprehensive and was drafted in conjunction with the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers, following extensive consultation. It provides ten days of statutory leave in cases of domestic violence, and proof of abuse is not required, which is extremely important. It also, however, protects employers where they believe leave is not being taken for its intended purpose. Similar standard provisions are provided for employees who believe they have been wrongly refused leave.

I reiterate, therefore, that while this legislation before us is a positive development, we do have several concerns about it. The entitlement to five days of leave falls short of the ten days provided for in Sinn Féin's 2020 Bill. We saw legislation introduced in the North with a provision in this regard of ten days, so this has been done in other legislation. This Bill is welcome, but it could be so much better with a bit of political will. We will be tabling amendments on later Stages and I hope the Minister will support them.

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