Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have also listened to the Minister's contribution. I have several questions because I am wondering what his amendment has to do with our Bill. Pregnancy loss and domestic violence leave are very important. I note the Minister said five days. I am sure he knows it was ten days in the report that our committee published, but none of that has anything to do with our Bill. I am afraid none of what he said really holds.

I cannot help but think that the Minister has again been sent out deliberately to delay legislation that is already long overdue. This is legislation that would bring compassion to our employment laws at a time of the most profound loss and bereavement following the death of a beloved son or daughter. Looking at this at its most basic level, bereaved parents need time to make practical arrangements, whether these involve the child who has died or wider family arrangements. Their whole family life has been turned upside down.

We all know what a bereavement is like but only a few of us understand what bereavement due to the loss of a child is. I am sure that is a challenge to somebody's ability to get on with every minute and every hour, never mind every day. There is a sheer mindlessness to tasks that eats into us when we are just shocked and lost but being bereaved due to the death of a child is of a completely different order. People should not have to rely on the kindness of their employers at that time. We should not preside over a situation whereby those working in the pubic sector and Civil Service can avail of this leave - it is not statutory bereavement leave but a contractual arrangement - but those working in the private sector are not entitled to it. It is unworthy of our workers and families and, frankly, it is beneath the Minister. No parent recovers from such a loss; they simply learn to accommodate it. As legislators, we should be able to accommodate them in their right to take leave from their jobs. With this amendment, the Minister is seeking to delay the matter even further by examining issues that could be examined in tandem with the legislation. It takes a long time for legislation to go through the Dáil. The Government is playing fast and loose with the needs and rights of employees in the private sector at a profoundly difficult time in their lives. I do not see that this delay is necessary at all.

A friend of mine lost her son last week. I heard about it when I was getting ready for work in the morning. I could not get even my make-up on because I was so upset and my eyes were filling up with tears - a minor thing - but it cuts into our hearts when we hear about a family we know losing a child. It is every parent's fear. It is the reason we check the cot to check in on our babies and listen at the door to make sure they are all breathing. It makes no sense because we will not catch them at the exact time something happens, but it is a guttural fear for every parent. It is why I ask the Minister to withdraw this unnecessary amendment.

I told the Minister that he got the short straw. I cannot believe he has been sent to the House yet again on this matter but it is entirely within his gift to withdraw this amendment. I ask and implore him to do so.

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