Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”

I am delighted to bring before the House today the Local Government (Maternity Protection and Other Measures for Members of Local Authorities) Bill 2022. The Bill represents an important legislative change which primarily will give elected members of local authorities a statutory entitlement to maternity leave. The Bill is the culmination of a significant amount of collegial work and I take this opportunity to acknowledge the positive co-operation of both the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Minister for Social Protection and their officials in progressing the Bill to this stage. I also acknowledge the vital contribution made by councillors themselves, to whom I listened closely and carefully as I developed this policy and legislative approach.

A significant number of Members of these Houses have a background in local government and will be well aware that Ireland has a low rate of female participation in local government. Most recently, in the 2019 local elections, only 24% of the available council seats were filled by women. While a record number of 562 women contested the elections, up from 440 in 2014, they only made up 28% of all of the candidates. The absence of formal maternity leave and, equally importantly, maternity supports to complement such leave have been identified as obstacles to the participation of women in local government.

Before I reflect on the contributions of the Deputies, I will give my commitment to Deputy Lowtry that if he passes on the details, i will certainly do all I can. It is a heartbreaking story and my throughts are with that young boy's family and with him. I know it is a traumatic time. End of life care, it is critical there is coverage across the country. The manner in which the family's wishes are respected is very important, whether it be in hospital, in p

The Local Government Act 2001, the principal legislation covering the local government sector, does not make express provision for maternity leave. In order to allow someone to avail of a period of absence following the birth of a child, section 18 of the Local Government Act is currently utilised. This section provides that a councillor shall be deemed to have automatically resigned from membership of a local authority if he or she is absent from meetings for a continuous period of six consecutive months. Where the absence is due to illness or is in good faith for another reason, the period of absence may be extended first to 12 months and then to up to 18 months. However, this requires a resolution to be passed by the relevant local authority, sanctioning the extended request for absence. This is a totally unacceptable mechanism by which to avail of maternity leave. For this reason, provisions of the Bill will allow for the separation of maternity leave for councillors from such terms and phrases as "illness" or "in good faith for another reason". The provisions of the Bill will mean that a female councillor will not need to go cap in hand to the council for a resolution to avail of maternity leave, and will allow for the introduction, not before time, of formal statutory maternity leave for elected members.

The kernel of the issue is that local authority members, similar to Members of the Oireachtas, are officeholders rather than employees. As such, they are not covered by the statutory framework for employees on issues such as maternity leave, sick leave and annual leave. The relevant extant legislation for maternity leave, the Maternity Protection Act 1994, is applicable to employees rather than officeholders, and this is where the legislative difficulty arises. To this end, the Bill gives legislative effect to Government commitments to establish, for the first time, an entitlement to maternity leave for local authority elected members, equivalent to the current entitlement for employees under the Maternity Protection Act 1994.

The Bill goes further, however. Through discussions with and feedback from stakeholders and representative groups, it became apparent that the councillor role is unique in that it is difficult to step away from the role for a lengthy absence, such as to take maternity leave. The Bill, therefore, also provides for the possibility of the appointment by co-option of an individual as a temporary substitute for a councillor who takes maternity leave under the Maternity Protection Act 1994. The proposal to allow for a temporary substitute is an effort to address situations where councillors may heretofore have felt pressure to turn up for important votes or debates or to fulfil their community representative role at times when they would have preferred or needed to be at home caring for their new baby or recovering themselves. To ensure equality and fairness, the Government has agreed to extend this temporary substitute option to all councillors who are absent due to illness or other good faith reason having regard to section 18 of the Local Government Act 2001.

In parallel, outside of this Bill, and as part of a wider package of maternity-related supports for elected members, a new allowance for administrative supports will be available to female councillors to dovetail with the period of statutory leave entitlements. My Department is currently drafting supporting regulations in this regard and I have committed to engaging with the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the local government sector as those regulations are progressed.

The Bill will address the specific obstacle of access to statutory maternity leave and also provide additional supports to elected members, particularly in an inclusive manner. This will help to ensure that through the proposed provisions to support women who wish to take maternity leave, current and future councillors will be more fully representative of the constituents they serve, but also that the role of the councillor is more accessible and sustainable for all.

I hope a precedent will be set by councillors who avail of maternity leave when it becomes available. If we are to encourage the next generation of women to get involved in local government, it would be heartening for them to see the leave being availed of and to be able to make use of it themselves.

I acknowledge the extensive consultation that has been undertaken, particularly with those most impacted. In April 2021, a cross-party working group of women councillors was established and asked specifically to examine all maternity-related issues for councillors. The group met a number of times in 2021 and gave the Department greater understanding of the needs of women councillors in the context of maternity supports. Specifically, the group reinforced the need for maternity leave and additional supports for councillors, but advised that as much flexibility as possible in accessing those supports was crucial.

Furthermore, the Department actively engaged on the issue with councillor representative organisations, particularly the Association of Irish Local Government, which submitted a detailed and greatly welcomed policy proposal on the matter. The Department also engaged with women’s groups involved in promoting the participation of women in local government, notably the National Women’s Council of Ireland, NWCI, Women for Election and See Her Elected. It further engaged on the issue with the Joint Committee on Gender Equality when considering the recommendations in the report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality. Subsequent to these engagements, the Department worked closely with the Office of the Attorney General on the complex legal questions arising, and with the Departments of Social Protection and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on the development of the policy approach adopted, as well as the legislative changes required.

I will now set out the main provisions of the Bill. Section 1 provides the necessary amendments to the Maternity Protection Act 1994, as amended, whereby an elected member will be deemed an employee for the purposes of entitlement to maternity leave. The specific provision at section 1 provides for legislative insertions at section 2 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994. Most importantly, a new subsection (2)(d) of that Act will provide for an elected member to be deemed an employee of the local authority for the purposes of maternity leave. Unlike employees who have a contract of employment, as referenced in Part II of the Maternity Protection Act 1994, as amended, local authority elected members, as officeholders, have a term of office which may come to an end at the next local election. Similar to an employee who is employed on a contract of a fixed term, it is not possible for this term to be extended if the elected member is on a period of maternity leave when his or her term of office ends or he or she resigns. Therefore, the period of maternity leave available to the elected member under the Bill ends when the elected member's term of office ends.

The Maternity Protection Act 1994 requires certain notifications of the intention to take maternity leave to be provided by the employee to the employer. A new section 9(3) is being inserted into the Maternity Protection Act 1994 to provide that in the case of a local authority elected member such notifications shall be made to the local authority meetings administrator, a role that is provided for in section 46 of the Local Government Act 2001. This amending legislation required careful consideration of each provision of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 to check whether it is applicable and-or workable if applied to such elected members. In this context, the Bill specifically sets out where certain provisions of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 do not apply to local authority elected members. The insertion of a new section 21A into the Maternity Protection Act 1994 provides for the disapplication of sections 23 to 28, inclusive, of that Act. Those sections relate, among other matters, to the voidance of certain purported terminations of employment, the extension of certain notices of termination of employment or of certain suspensions, provisions relating to periods of probation, training and apprenticeship and so on, and the provisions shall not apply in the case of local authority elected members. Similarly, Part V of the Maternity Protection Act 1994, which relates to the resolution of disputes, shall not apply in the case of local authority elected members who do not have recourse to such mechanisms. This is provided for by the insertion of new section 30A into the Maternity Protection Act 1994 which disapplies Part V of that Act in respect of local authority elected members.

Section 2 contains amendments to the Local Government Act 2001, as amended, which provide that the need for a council resolution to avail of extended absence from the council will not apply where the elected member is on maternity leave. This section also provides the procedures and protocols whereby an elected member causing an extended absence may, if he or she so wishes, request that a temporary substitute be co-opted to undertake the role of the councillor who is absent for the period of that absence. Specifically, a new section (4) is being inserted at section 18 of the Local Government Act 2001 to provide that in the event that an elected member avails of an absence under the Maternity Protection Act 1994, a casual vacancy will not occur and the member will not be required to seek a resolution of the council to extend her maternity leave beyond six months.

A new section 19A of the Local Government Act 2001 provides for the possibility of the appointment by co-option of an individual as a temporary substitute for an elected member who takes a period of maternity leave under the Maternity Protection Act 1994 or who is absent due to illness or in good faith for another reason under section 18 of the Local Government Act 2001. The co-option process will be similar to that provided for in section 19 of the Local Government Act 2001, which allows for the filling of casual vacancies.

The temporary substitution would come to an end when the period of maternity leave or the term of office ends, or if the member resigns, or is deemed to have resigned, under section 18 of the Local Government Act 2001.

In order to ensure an equality of approach, the possibility of the appointment by co-option of a temporary substitute would also be available in the case of a member who is absent due to illness or, in good faith, for another reason. The temporary substitution would come to an end either when the member who is absent resumes their role, when the term of office ends, or if a casual vacancy occurs. In each instance, it is proposed that a member causing the temporary absence would have an appropriate input in the nomination of the temporary substitute. Although mindful that the appointment by co-option of a temporary substitute would prevent the under-representation of the local electoral area at issue, availing of this possibility remains the choice of the elected member and is not imposed on any member.

Section 3 contains the standard legislative mechanisms for citation of the legislation. This is innovative and overdue legislation that aims to encourage any women who wish to become involved in local government to do so knowing that there will be statutory supports and inclusive structures in place to allow access to maternity leave. It is my intent, once maternity leave has been made available to councillors, which is an urgent priority, the Department can examine how best to provide for the availability of paternity leave and other family leaves, for example, parents’ leave and parental leave.

In closing, I would like to inform Members that it is my intention to introduce on Committee Stage some technical amendments to the Lough Corrib Navigation Act 1945. The purpose of these amendments is to address a legal anomaly caused by the repeal of the Drainage (Ireland) Act 1856. While this repeal took place in 2009, the implications only came to light this year. Lough Corrib is managed and maintained by trustees made up of elected members from Galway City Council, Galway County Council and Mayo County Council. The board of trustees has been responsible for all matters relating to the control of navigation on Lough Corrib since 1856 and while the Lough Corrib Navigation Act 1945 provides for membership of the board of trustees, it does not provide for the full range of powers and functions set out in the 1856 Act. As a result, the board of trustees no longer has a legal basis to carry out its functions. There will be no material change to how navigation is managed as a result of these amendments. The reinstatement of the legal basis for the functions will simply provide for the continuing management of the navigation, which is currently being undertaken by Galway City Council on behalf of the trustees. I look forward to hearing the views of Members. I hope everyone is happy with the process that has taken place so far to get the Bill to this point.

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