Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann calls for action in the area of maternity/paternity leave for county and city councillors.

I thank the Seanad Office, the Cathaoirleach's office and my colleagues on the administrative panel for supporting this motion and co-signing it. I appreciate the help and support of all members of the administrative panel, Senators Wilson, Ahearn, Conway, Moynihan and Ó Donnghaile, in getting this motion to the floor of the House. I thank the Minister of State for being here to listen to the debate on the motion and to take on board what we, collectively, have to say. I also thank the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, who sent me a letter earlier this evening advising me that he hopes to have a meeting soon to see how he could play his part in this regard.

The innovation and addition of the panel motions within the Seanad operation is very welcome. I commend the Cathaoirleach on his leadership in that regard. This is the second such panel and we look forward to many more.

The work of local government is extremely important to all of us and to the lives of all citizens. The decisions made by local councillors ranging from planning to housing to local amenities impact on the lives of everyone who lives within the communities they serve. We must support those who wish to serve, ensure there is diversity with respect to those who have the opportunity to serve and address equality issues within that.

Often we see how the culture and organisation of politics can present barriers to women and, indeed, men, who are the primary carers of children, seeking electoral office. A key barrier is caused by the demand of combining responsibilities with the demands of public life, which tend to require long and frequently antisocial working hours. Those barriers may be reduced by measures which make the role of local representatives more compatible with child rearing responsibilities, particularly the provision of maternity-paternity leave, and by pairing administrative support. etc. To truly reduce the barriers, these measure must enable mothers and fathers to take temporary leave from their role as local representatives with minimal negative consequences either professionally or financially. Other measures can and should be focused on altering the organisation and, ultimately, the culture of politics by, for example, changing the times of meetings, allowing proxy or remote voting, etc. The bottom line is that the lack of proper maternity leave provision for elected members has been identified as a major barrier to attracting women to, and retaining them in, public life. When I refer to maternity leave I am also referring to paternity and adoptive leave.

The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, showed many of our colleagues around the country that being forced to sacrifice on maternity or family leave is not an acceptable trade-off or an acceptable expectation. Her taking of maternity leave has shown that even at the highest levels of political life maternity leave can be facilitated and must be prioritised. Her maternity leave certainly brought this issue to the attention of the public but the realities of the situation are well known to all of us in this House and to all our colleagues within local authorities.

I commend the tireless work of Councillor Mary Hoade who, during her term as president of the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, spearheaded a comprehensive report entitled Pathway to the Provision of Maternity/Adoptive/ Paternity leave for Local Authority Elected Members. I thank the focus group the AILG put together comprising cross-party councillors, Carly Bailey, Clodagh Higgins, Jane Horgan-Jones, Mairín McGrath, Aoife McCooey and Danielle Twomey. I also reiterate the commitment of the new president of the AILG, Nicholas Crossan, of his support and work in this respect. I am very pleased to support and endorse the recommendations put forward in that report. Those recommendations notably are that there should be an amendment to section 18 of the Local Government Act 2001 to provide for maternity leave as an excused absence from a local authority where members can take maternity-paternity leave without the necessity of a resolution from the elected council, and that their allowance remains.We constantly talk about increasing the diversity of our body politic, and we have imposed welcome reforms, such as the gender quota system. If we truly want to see our political discourse transformed, however, we need to ensure our political apparatus operates in as open and inclusive a way as possible. Access to basic rights, such as maternity and family leave, is a key aspect of this.

I have engaged extensively over recent weeks with councillors from right around the country, by email and telephone. I hosted an online councillor consultation last week. I thank colleagues for their engagement and support in that regard. The message from councillors is very clear: they need to see action in this area. The level of pressure and stress faced by many colleagues around the country, especially those who become parents during the term of their mandate, is very clear. I spoke to a member of a local authority who, just hours after giving birth, had sat upright in her bed to take part remotely in council business concerning a development plan out of fear that a lack of engagement would be used against her by opponents at the next election. She had worried more about packing her laptop bag and ensuring she would be ready to work in hospital after birth than about packing her birthing bag. That is just outrageous but it shows the pressure women are under. Parents get only one opportunity to experience the birth of any child, and they have the right to experience it to the full and to be fully present.

Another point of note was the financial burden placed on many councillors due to the unsociable working hours. Many councillors noted the incredible expense of childcare and late-night babysitting to allow them to attend out-of-hours meetings, both virtually and around their constituencies.

We have all fought tooth and nail to see the recommendations of the Moorhead report implemented. I am proud that Fianna Fáil has played its part in delivering long-overdue reform of conditions and pay for councillors. The remuneration of local authority members is modest, however, and the imposition of high childcare costs puts even more financial pressure on our colleagues.

While new mothers take maternity leave, there should be secretarial support to assist with the workload. At the height of the pandemic, remote attendance and voting were facilitated at statutory meetings of local authorities. An elected member on maternity, paternity or adoptive leave should have this facility continued. Pairing, as done in the Seanad and Dáil, should also be introduced to facilitate this type of leave.

I thank the Oireachtas Library & Research Service for its research on my behalf on 16 European states to determine how they deal with maternity leave. Not all local government systems are the same, and the numbers of people and sizes of areas vary. The competencies and policy areas that fall under the remit of councils vary significantly. There is an obvious difference where there are directly elected mayors. In ten of the 16 states, councillors are considered paid employees for the purposes of remuneration and benefits. Their entitlement to maternity and paternity leave, therefore, is a right under law. In seven of the states, councillors are formally substituted for the duration of their leave. In five of the states, councillors lose their allowances for the duration of the leave. In my view, this is not acceptable given that many make financial sacrifices to be public representatives in the first place. The two best examples of what happens abroad are in Portugal, where councillors may avail of substitution and continue to receive allowances, and the Welsh Assembly, which sets out in law the rights of councillors to take maternity, paternity and parental leave without requiring the formal permission of the council. Ireland should play a leading role and provide an example of best practice to other countries in respect of how to support parents who are also public representatives.

On family leave, I want to mention the real-life experiences of many across society, including elected members of local authorities, in respect of the need to give care to loved ones. Many have family members, be they parents, siblings or children with complex additional needs, who need to be cared for from time to time. If we want to ensure our democracy is truly representative, we need to find a way to support these people in getting and staying involved in the political process.

In my consultation with councillors of all parties and none, their immense pride and dedication to their role, community and job came through very strongly. Politicians are public people. We choose to put ourselves before our peers and to be held to account if elected, but we are also people with the same basic needs and responsibilities as others. We have families, children and parents, and we have bereavements, and we need to ensure that those who are brave enough to step into the arena are supported in doing their very valuable work fully.