David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House to discuss another important issue. The issue of child care is very important, as is maternity and paternity leave. I commend Senator White for bringing forward the Bill. I always commend Senators who go to the bother of tabling legislation because it is very important. It is easy to table motions on issues but when somebody goes to the trouble of drafting a Bill and doing all the research that is involved in it, he or she should be commended. There is no need to be worried about flaws in it because that is what Committee Stage is for. We can pick up on flaws. It is the substance of the Bill that we should celebrate and accept is a good thing.

There is cross-party support for us collectively to do more in the area of child care generally but also in the area of maternity and paternity leave, especially paternity leave, given the very low levels of cover we have in this State. While male employees are not entitled under Irish law to either paid or unpaid paternity leave, they may be entitled to parental leave.

Parental leave entitles parents who qualify to take a period of up to 18 weeks unpaid leave, generally in respect of children aged up to eight years. There is no provision for a social insurance-based payment for periods of parental leave, but employees may be entitled to credited contributions to maintain their social insurance record for the period.

The Minister is on record as saying that the introduction of a social insurance-based payment would involve a cost to the State. It is something we need to examine because people do pay more taxes now than they did before, including PRSI, the universal social charge and income taxes. Parents are entitled to a level of maternity cover or paternal leave when that opportunity presents itself.

We all accept that society has changed. It is not the role of women simply to care for children - that is the role of both parents who have equal responsibility for raising their children. In the early stages of a child's life it is important that they should spend as much time as possible with both parents, rather than just with the mother. Obviously, the mother has a critical role but so too does the father, although very often that has not been recognised for historical reasons.

There is no reason we cannot have more paternity cover in this State. The only reason against it is one of cost, in addition to the fact that there might be issues arising from employers' organisations. Nevertheless, we must face up to the fact that we need to do more. In that respect, this Bill is a good step forward.

In the past, Sinn Féin has backed Labour Party motions supporting the introduction of paid paternity leave to redress the imbalance in family life. While undertaking research for this Bill, I came across an interesting statistic which showed that, on average, women are working longer days than men. I found that amazing, but it is a fact.