Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this legislation. It is a really progressive step. I thank the Minister of State and his officials. I take the opportunity to commend both the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, on all the work they have done as representatives of the voice of councillors. They have kept this issue on the Minister of State's agenda for many years. While I have the opportunity, I also thank my party representative, Councillor Joanna Byrne, who sat on the Minister of State's working group on this issue.

In 2017, Sinn Féin Councillor Danielle Twomey wrote to the then Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, to ask him to review the legislation that prevented councillors taking maternity leave after she was told that she would have to resign her seat if she took six months' maternity leave after giving birth to her child. It has taken us five years to get to this point but there have been no delays since the pre-legislative scrutiny. I commend the Minister of State and his Department on that. I hope this legislation is treated with the same urgency going forward. It is to be hoped that councillors who give birth will be able to avail of this legislation in 2023. I hope that they see the full benefit of this legislation and do not have to endure the same experiences as previous female councillors.

Section 1 of this Bill is pretty straightforward. It deals with the amendments to the Maternity Protection Act 1994 by deeming councillors as employees of local authorities for the fixed term for which they are elected, barring a few exemptions. This will mean that councillors are treated the same as any other woman seeking to avail of maternity leave. This is a huge, positive step in the right direction. Section 2 of the Bill amends the Local Government Act 2001 by inserting a new section 19A, subsection (3) of which allows for a temporary substitute if a councillor wishes to take leave in full due to maternity, illness or any other issue, in good faith, with the views of the councillor being taken into account before nominations are put forward to the broader council body. This is a positive step. It is positive to see that the wishes of the councillor who is taking leave are given full consideration before appointing a substitute. It is also a significant step that a councillor who is ill for a period can opt for a temporary substitution under this new section.

To be honest, I cannot see any issue with this Bill. I hope it progresses through both Houses with ease. The fact that it has taken us until 2022 to facilitate councillors seeking to take maternity leave is a shame. It is something for which all parties in this House have campaigned for years. We are all aware of the need to remove as many barriers as possible for people wishing to seek election. I hope this results in a higher percentage of female candidates in the next local elections than there were in the last.

During pre-legislative scrutiny, the Minister stated that he would publish the regulations needed for the administrative end of the temporary substitute element of this Bill alongside it. We have not yet seen those yet but I hope he will publish them sooner rather than later in order that we can get a concrete idea of what we are endorsing and for this Bill to pass all Stages. The joint committee recommended that where an elected member decides not to avail of a temporary substitute, a mechanism can be put in place to enable the elected member to vote remotely. This is somebody who is not availing of the substitute but may, as the Minister of State said, may be at home recovering after giving birth. We need to put a provision in place that they can vote remotely at home. This is very fair, given that the voting record of elected representatives is usually a talking point when the next election arises. I am not sure whether there is any legal reason why this cannot happen but if there is, we should address it here and now. The committee also recommended that where an elected member opts for administrative support instead of taking full maternity leave, the salary should be reflective of the experience of the candidate and the responsibility of the role should meet the living wage requirements. We think it is only fair that anybody taking up the role of administrative support for a councillor has a wage that reflects that fact.

The development of a departmental circular that outlines a structure for women returning to the workplace after maternity leave should be drawn up with local authorities with the aid of the Minister. This should be reflective of best practices globally and should look at facilities and supports available to councillors when they return, which was recommended by the joint committee. It is not much to ask of local authorities to make facilities available to meet the needs of new mothers. I do not see any reason there should be a delay in organising this. If the Minister of State leads the local authorities on this, they will follow.

I hope the Department is still working to address the other non-pay related issues outlined in the Moorhead report. I understand that the Minister of State previously said that a committee was set up to deal with some of these issues within his Department. I would appreciate it if we were kept updated with its progress. Some of the issues it addressed included tailored training for councillors and administrative supports for all councillors. We need to see some really workable proposals around paternity leave and family friendly working hours.

The Minister of State will agree that there is probably much more to be done. This Bill is very welcome, however. I hope we see it enacted with all sections commenced as soon as possible.

See this speech in context