Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, to the House, and I welcome the fact that my matter on the Commencement was one of those chosen on the first day of this new procedure. I very much welcome the change we have made, which will streamline Seanad procedures and make them more effective. I am grateful to the Minister of State for coming in to answer the question.

My question is simply about the need to inform the House as to whether maternity, adoptive and parental leave are available for members of the Judiciary. I will explain briefly to the Minister why I ask this question. In 2003, along with two colleagues in Trinity, I conducted a survey on gender discrimination in the legal profession. It was published as "Gender in Justice," the first ever examination of gender discrimination in the legal professions, including among members of the Judiciary. At the time, we made 50 recommendations on how to improve the position for lawyers, particularly female lawyers, because we found evidence of significant discrimination at various levels. Among the 50 recommendations, one I am glad to see was implemented was that solicitors' firms would pay full maternity pay to their employees who are on maternity leave, which had not previously been the case - they were only getting statutory pay.

We revisited the study in 2013, looking at various figures. At that point I was interested to note that the proportion of female members of the Judiciary had increased from 21% in 2003 to 28% in 2013. In particular, in December 2013, 30% of Supreme Court judges, 42% of Circuit Court judges, and 27% of District Court were women. In fact, significant numbers of the Judiciary are women.

The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, of which I am a member, has been looking at the issue of judicial appointments. Recently, we sent some material to the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, on the workings of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, JAAB, which she is reviewing currently.

I am conscious that within the past ten years there have been significant moves in the promotion of many women in senior levels of the legal professions. The Chief Justice, the Minister for Justice and Equality, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief State Solicitor and the Garda Commissioner are all female. Significant progress has been made.

On foot of all of these changes, it occurred to me that in 2003 we had not considered the issue of child care, particularly maternity, adoptive and parental leave, for members of the Judiciary. It was not raised with us, although many other issues were. We conducted an extensive survey of lawyers, judges, legal academics, etc., and the issue of child care generally was raised universally by working lawyers, but it was not raised with us as an issue for members of the Judiciary. It struck me that, as we see increasing numbers of women entering the Judiciary, this should become more of an issue. Of course, it should also be an issue for men who are fathers and members of the Judiciary too, but generally it has been raised with us by women as an issue. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State.