Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I compliment my friend and colleague, Senator White, on the Bill. It is evident that she has put a lot of hard work into it. I congratulate her.

The Bill proposes to increase maternity leave from 26 weeks to 28 weeks and to provide that the new allocation would be shared – 14 weeks for the mother and 14 weeks for the father. That has been mentioned by all speakers and that appears to be the intention of the Bill. However, the Bill contains a number of drafting defects, including on page 8 where the proposed new section 8(1) to be inserted in the existing Act creates an entitlement of not less than 14 consecutive weeks leave for either the pregnant employee or the father but not both. That is merely an error but a more substantive defect in the Bill is that the entitlement to 14 weeks paternity leave is created without any qualification and without giving the mother any choice. It is paramount that the mother has a choice, regardless of whether there is a continuing relationship between the couple.

The Bill makes no provision for adoptive mothers who are also entitled under current legislation to an equivalent length of leave – or for adoptive fathers for that matter. Previous speakers alluded to the fact also. I am concerned about the proposal that the father would have an automatic right to 50% of the available leave allowance, regardless of whether there is a relationship with the mother. In many cases the relationship after birth might not be as good as it should be and in such cases one could have fathers claiming the leave when they are not entitled to it.

The Minister will bring forward amendments in due course to provide that maternity leave will remain vested in the mother. As a father I believe that is the right approach. There will not be an increase in the current 26 week ceiling of paid maternity leave. The mother may opt to share some of the maternity leave, other than the minimum period which must be taken by her for health and safety reasons. That is currently two weeks prior to the birth and four weeks afterwards. Leave is available to the father subject to him qualifying in his own right on the basis of his social welfare record. The provision will be made for both maternity leave and adoptive leave situations. The Minister of State committed to bring forward Committee Stage amendments to achieve that outcome. She has sought time to consult with relevant Departments, the social partners and the Equality Authority. It is essential that Committee Stage is deferred until early in 2014 to enable the drafting of the relevant amendments.

As a parent and grandfather who got married when it was the law that a wife gave up her job until the children became teenagers and she went back to her employment, I commend and recognise the part played by my wife in those early years with our three children. As far as I am concerned, money would not buy what my good wife contributed to the formative years.