Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. I thank the Cathaoirleach for facilitating the sort of debate we are having today. It is very much welcome, and I hope we will continue in this way. I acknowledge the good work of Senator O’Loughlin on this debate and the fact that everyone on the Administrative Panel supports it.

I remember talking to my family at home in the 1980s when my mother was a politician. She had two children when she was a councillor but took no leave from the council at the time. She was asked to run in the 1987 general election, which was in the middle of February, but did not run because she was pregnant and due to have my brother in early February. At that time, it was basically the case that someone who was pregnant could not run. That was my mother’s feeling at the time. Two years later, in 1989, she ran and was elected. The minute she got elected, having more children was just not an option for her. She had four children — four boys — but she would have liked to have more if politics had not prevented her. There was no opportunity at the time to be a mother in the early months. It was so frustrating. Although that was in 1987, essentially nothing has changed in law since. What is new is the perception that something needs to be done. Much of this comes down to the courageous leadership role of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. When it was announced that she was pregnant, she did not hesitate in taking six months’ maternity leave, and it and it was the job of everyone else to figure out how it was to be done. She was taking the leave, and that was it. It is important to commend her husband, Paul, also because he took a leadership role from a male perspective in the sense of taking time off to support the family. Everyone will speak about maternity leave for councillors and its importance, but men can play a role in promoting paternity leave for them.

I have one young boy, who was born in December 2019. I was a councillor and candidate for the imminent general election, which happened to be a month later. I did not even consider paternity leave. Even if had been available, I would not even have considered it. The Minister of State has a young family also.The job and the way we perceive the job sometimes dictate that we cannot take any time off. I remember when I was in the delivery room of the hospital when Jimmy was being born. One is still kind of working as well as actually going through this. Men need to take a leadership role. We have a role to play and an opportunity to play in supporting that family network and taking paternity leave. As councillors, we talk about equality all the time but we need to take that role as well. In fairness to the Minister of State, in his first year in office, he made a commitment to support councillors in terms of fair pay and remuneration for the work they do and delivered that on time as promised. This is another element where we can support councillors and that would make a huge difference to so many councillors across the country. I acknowledge the excellent work of the AILG in terms of putting up the proposals. They are very legitimate requests in terms of giving six months leave of absence for maternity and paternity leave with a 50% reduction for the following six months, a third period of six months unpaid leave and secretarial support. These are obvious things that could be supported. I acknowledge the really good work of the AILG on this issue. I look forward to listening to the Minister of State's contribution.