Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to welcome my friend and colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, to the House. I would like to salute the Labour Party and Senator Bacik, in particular, for what I would describe as very progressive and necessary legislation. The Labour Party has a proud history in social justice issues, in particular in this area, and it is appropriate this is acknowledged. Information is power. The more information that is available, the better equipped we are as a country to do the right thing. I am very pleased the Government is not opposing this Bill on Second Stage. I sincerely hope that whatever the technical issues are, they can be resolved by the Minister and Senator Bacik in a collaborative way and that the legislation will be even more powerful as a result.

A Programme for a Partnership Government is very strong in this area. The objectives and aims of the Government and Senator Bacik are really the same; it is just a matter of how we achieve them and do this properly. This Bill will pass Second Stage this evening, so that will put a particular process in train that will ultimately bring us to where we want to go.

Much has happened I listened to Senator Ó Ríordáin talking about his mother having to give up her job when she got married in the 1970s. If one tells people about that today, they do not believe it. We have come a long way in four decades but we have an awfully long way to go.

There is the issue of equality but then there is real equality. The vast majority of people aspire to equality. Unfortunately the word "equality" is kicked around an awful lot and, in many ways, it is abused. What I want to see is real and meaningful equality. What the Labour Party and, indeed, the Government are trying to achieve is real equality. It is equality where nobody is working for a month out of every year for nothing and where people are effectively equal in all aspects of their work.

I was not in the House for the Order of Business this morning but I believe the Fine Gael leadership issue was brought up. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has suggested extending parental leave. There should be the option of dividing up maternity leave if somebody-----