Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and I welcome this Bill. An awful lot of people deserve credit for the Bill. First and foremost are the Social Democrats who took the initiative in the Dáil. I give credit to Fianna Fáil and my colleagues in the Labour Party for their support for the Bill.

I speak from personal experience as I took parental leave after our first child was born. I was managing a large recruitment company at the time. My employer was very progressive and I was able to take the leave in chunks, giving me effectively a three-day week. There was no problem and it made a huge difference to me. One goes on a steep learning curve when one becomes a father. Unfortunately, I ran out of leave and that is why this leave is so important. Like others, I have been contacted by a large number of parents - largely women, which is interesting in itself. The burden should be equally shared but this shows that it still falls largely on women.

We know that the most important thing we do in life, if we have children, is to bring them up. Work-life balance is key but the balance is not right at the moment. There are far too many families who are hard pressed. This is a great opportunity to take a significant step in the right direction. I completely agree with Senator Higgins that we should be looking at paid leave but I will happily accept this as a step forward on which we can all agree.

I fully support all amendments on behalf of our party. I do not know if Fine Gael will support the Bill but I hope its members will as they and the Minister know it is the right thing to do. We have to do more to help working families and this is one significant way to do it. I have great respect for my colleagues in IBEC, though we do not necessarily agree on all issues. I am slightly disappointed in the letter it sent in on this matter. It reminded me of Hard Timesby Charles Dickens and could have been written by Mr. Gradgrind. One of the lines stated that a fair balance must be met between the importance of achieving a reconciliation of professional and private life and the need to manage a workplace and enhance economic competitiveness. There are some things which are more important than economic competitiveness and I suggest our families and our children are such a thing. Let us all get behind this Bill.