Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Several of these amendments relate to gender-based violence leave. I wholeheartedly welcome the right to access leave for domestic and gender-based violence. It is significant that people now have that statutory right, but the provisions fall short of what is required. Most obviously, the Bill only allows for five days' leave, when the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth heard, repeatedly, that ten days is necessary. We have all raised these points before, but if we are to take the necessary action to tackle gender-based violence, why provide only half of what is being sought by those who work in the area?

At the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the CEO of West Cork Women Against Violence, Marie Mulholland, stressed the sheer amount of time and logistics involved for women fleeing those violent situations, especially in rural areas where there are additional barriers in accessing support services, housing offices and the courts. Ms Mulholland explained it, in that, if one has a court date on the day one's leave is ended and one does not have enough leave, there are no buses to the court and one has to get to a housing office that could be an hour and a half away, to try to seek emergency accommodation and that could be with pets, children and all of these things. Women's Aid stated that leave should be set at ten days and, in certain cases, additional unpaid leave may be necessary. Also at the committee, Dr. Nata Duvvury from the University of Galway informed the committee that ten days' leave is now becoming the universal standard for domestic leave.

The other major deficiency in the leave is the rate of pay, because there is an ambiguity around that really important aspect of the Bill. Amendments were rejected to ensure that people receive their full pay while taking this leave, as well as the requirement for people affected to get pay in advance. It now looks as though domestic violence leave will be set at comparable rates to sick leave, which is 70% of one's normal pay, up to a maximum of €110 per day. However, upon zooming out, one cannot, in good conscience, reduce the pay of somebody fleeing domestic violence, at the exact time when that person needs that access to money. It seems there is no understanding of what these women are going through, that is, the fear, vulnerability and the countless bureaucratic barriers. Other countries ensure people get the full pay. Victims and survivors in Ireland deserve no less.

During the Seanad debate, it was pointed out that often people in those circumstances are under considerable coercive and financial control and their abuser will see their pay reduction as a way to create a situation where the victim or survivor is even more vulnerable. I urge the Minister to return to those fundamental issues. I know he will probably refer to the review of the legislation, but that will not begin until at least two years after the Bill comes into effect and it will be another year or more before any changes could be suggested. We could not even guess how many people would suffer in the meantime.

See this speech in context