Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. It has been so long since I have seen him. There are many positives to focus on in this Bill and there are areas to build on as well. On the positive side, it extends parental leave from two to five weeks' paid leave, and that will include the first two years of the child's life in order to cover the parents who had children during Covid lockdown and restrictions. We certainly owe them recognition for what they went through. The Bill fixes a gap in the legislation for same-sex marriages and gives parents a choice as to who takes adoptive leave. Parental leave is the kind of support we need more of in legislation because bringing that in begins to acknowledge some of the barriers women face when they become mothers.

I say that against the backdrop of Covid-19 and the stubborn social norms it has highlighted. It has shown us that women still take on the bulk of unpaid work and care and that that has a knock-on effect on their economic participation and equal opportunities. Some 94% of those looking after homes or families in 2019 were women. Figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, tell us that just over 9% of women, compared with 0.4% of men, took unpaid leave during the pandemic. Some 45% of women provide care for children and older adults, compared to just 29% of men. Across the EU during the pandemic almost one third of women with young children found it hard to concentrate on their work, compared to just over one sixth of men in the same household situation. Women are more likely to feel tense, lonely and depressed than men in the same age range who have children. They are more vulnerable to unemployment and redundancy and the past year is more likely to have impacted on their career progression.

Ireland has serious issues when it comes to sharing the care and we need a variety of initiatives to change that. No one single policy will do it but things like a willingness to prioritise families and parents, maternity, paternity and parental leave, work flexibility, accessible and affordable childcare across the board and local planning and transport all matter.I advocate for flexible workplaces because they move away from a one-size-fits-all model of work that juggling parents cannot always mould their lives around. Flexibility should be a right, not a perk, that comes with boundaries and respects the work-life balance.

If we are going to level the playing field in work, we will have to level the playing field at home too. I commend the purpose of the legislation to facilitate parents who are employees to balance paid employment and their responsibilities to their children in a fair and equitable way. I commend it on promoting the participation of mothers in the workforce and enabling relevant parents to share the responsibility of providing or assisting in the provision of care on an equal basis.

I had hoped there would be an opportunity to do more directly for lone parents and to provide them with the additional leave of two parents when they are doing the job of both. I understand that the leave is for parents in their own right, regardless of whether they are in a relationship, and that it is for the individual parent rather than allocation per family. Can we treat all parents the same, however, when their circumstances are not the same? Lone parents in Ireland are five times more likely to experience deprivation than two-parent families, a rate that is the second highest in Europe. Up to 85% of lone parents are women. Lone parents will only face more hardship and poverty but they are less likely to remain in the workforce.

I have spoken to the Minister about this quite a few times. I thank him for his time and consideration. I know the Department's view is that the legislation cannot be amended to give additional direct leave to lone parents. I am disappointed that it cannot but I recognise the flexibility that up to four parents can avail of it. In some European countries, leave in the context of lone parents can be taken by a family member such as a grandparent. Like my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, has said, what other flexibility could be there to open that up? What can be done to provide more support to lone parents, as other European countries are doing?

The reports yesterday about the impact of home working and crèches were a bit alarmist. Remote working is not a substitution for childcare. If anything has shown that, it is the experiences of women over the past year in trying to juggle everything. Senator Mullen asked what is the end goal that the Minister is trying to achieve. The end goal is choice for parents in how they raise their children and lead their lives. Choice is backed up by equal opportunities, respect for diversity and rearing children in a loving environment where everyone gets to reach their full potential.