Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He is right. When we were doing the consultation on the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, one of the big issues that employer groups raised was that their members, particularly small and medium-sized business, were nervous about domestic violence leave. They were nervous about getting that knowledge from their employees and what they were to do with the information. They asked did it put legal responsibilities on them. That is why we have worked with Women's Aid to design this policy template guidance to support workers whether their employee is asking for this particular leave or more generally reveals that he or she is a victim of domestic violence. We want to support workers in that regard. It is a difficult conversation for any of us and we need to support employers too.

The Deputy mentioned breast-feeding breaks and the extension from six months to two years after birth. That is one of the most significant changes we have brought in through this legislation. It is now applying. That right allows a woman who is returning to work after maternity leave to take up to an hour off per day to breast-feed. That now applies. It will have a major impact in supporting new mothers who are returning to the workplace.

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