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

I again put on record of the House my appreciation for all the Members of all various different parties and Independents who contributed to framing these proposals for maternity leave for our councillors. Since my appointment, this has been a significant gap and I am happy now that we have taken this journey to ensure that we have this very important reform. I know from dealing with so many councillors right across the country that it had been a huge concern, principally because - which is totally abhorrent in a modern democracy - female councillors were obliged to seek the permission of their peers to extend period of absences and that was totally unacceptable. I am also happy that we have our suite of measures for sick leave, which is very important in the support of local authority members as they discharge their functions.

We have a long, incremental journey of work to continue the reforms for local authority members. In the first instance, maternity leave and the Moorhead proposals have been introduced, which have made a great difference for our councillor colleagues, but we have more to do. I acknowledge we have a significant journey yet to undertake and we will lead the charge to do that as long as I am in this office, which I am so grateful to hold.

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