Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State who will have to get used to spending time in here as this is what happens on a Friday when one has this level of responsibility. It is great that legislation such as this has come before this House with support from right across the House and that it will be enacted in time to be ready by early September, which is a great achievement by the Minister of State. Given the delay in the formation of the Government, there was a suggestion or fear that it might not be ready in time, but the Minister of State has prioritised it and made it happen and he should be congratulated on doing that.

In respect of public policy, we often talk a lot about children but previous Governments have not necessarily invested and drilled down to what can make family life easier in terms of providing real supports to make parenting better, as has been said by a previous speaker. If one looks at the European mainstream, certainly the Scandinavian mainstream, one would see that we would certainly be a long way behind it, but that does not mean that we should not start somewhere. This is a positive start. As has been mentioned, it was campaigning groups like Start Strong, ICTU and the National Women's Council that first proposed that two weeks' paid paternity leave would be a good start. The Minister of State and I attended a conference 18 months ago where this case was made quite strongly. I congratulate the Minister of State on the work he has done and offer the full support of my Labour Party colleagues.

We should not take this in isolation from other issues in the child care area that need to be addressed. I am sure these issues are outside the Minister of State's remit but I know he will be having conversations because this comes as a gender equality measure. Deputy Stanton is the Minister of State with responsibility for equality, which includes gender equality, and this measure is trying to promote equality in parenting. As we look at those crucial early years, it is remarkable how one can see the power parenting can have. I had a conversation this morning with Preparing for Life in Darndale. It has statistics regarding what intervention can do. The empowerment of parents is key to driving change. I often quote the 1995 report from Betty Hart and Todd Risley. It is a US report so some of the language is a bit Americanised but the authors say that the average three year old from a welfare dependent family has one third the oral language capacity of a three year old from a professional family. Basically, a three year old from a poor family has about 400 words, while a three year old from a rich family has about 1,200. This is before they come anywhere near school. When we talk about early intervention, we often think that this is where school comes in, but the key intervention is family-based - the empowerment of the family and parents to have the skills to employ them in the family setting to ensure dietary, oral language and literacy skills are there from day one. This type of measure gives space and time for the family to concentrate on family matters. Employment matters and bill pressures can be so crushing that having the capacity to spend time with one's family in those early years is key.

I know the Government is pursuing two years' free child care provision, which is a great initiative. In respect of child care, much of the conversation from different parties and interest groups has been around the idea of a tax credit. I would warn against that. I do not believe the tax credit is a solution to the child care issue in Ireland. The international experience shows that tax credits do not do anything for standards and prices. When intervening in the child care area to make it more affordable for families, we should consider other options as laid out by the National Women's Council and Start Strong, which I understand is winding up or has been wound up. I pay tribute to those involved in that organisation, which was very much an evidence-based organisation that tried to provide evidence-based material for policy-makers to consider when driving forward interventions in the early years sphere. Start Strong has come to the end of its existence, which is a shame, but its input can be seen all over this piece of legislation.

In congratulating the Minister of State and what he has achieved here, I suggest that we could have further conversations about the nature of employment as an equality tool. Many of the groups with which the Minister of State is dealing say that employment is a key indicator of equality. In fact, discrimination happens most readily in the workplace.Among the groups which the Minister of State will be dealing with are the Traveller organisations, who often say that the only place a Traveller can get a job is in the Traveller lobby group. He will also be dealing with the disabilities organisations who are determined to ensure that the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities is followed through, and the LGBT people who want to work in LGBT-friendly environments. There should be no barrier in the workplace to women or mothers playing their full role. We must always be minded of the power of employment as an equality measure. It gives a great sense of self and identity. One of the first questions we ask people when we first meet them is, "Where are you from and what do you do?" If within the identity we have as workers we have legislation that can defend our rights as family people, surely then the productivity of the workers and the workplace will improve. Multinational corporations are often criticised but when one drills down into how they organise their workforce, many of these measures are very generous and not because the multinationals want to be generous but because they have analysed that their workers will be more productive if they are adequately catered for in terms of leave and workplace rights. This Bill is a small step in that direction.

I thank the Minister of State and his officials for bringing this legislation to this point and assure him he will have the support of the Labour Party in his endeavours. As I said, this legislation will work best in conjunction with the suite of other measures that I know the Department will be working on, including in the area of child care. We need to understand employment as an equality measure and to be minded that the power of parenting and the ability to enjoy the period of parenting is crucial. The Government's recognition of that through this Bill is welcome.