Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House and thank the members of the administrative panel for bringing forward this timely debate. Thinking back to my time on the council, young females never came forward. While we had young males, there were never young females. Much of the time they said it just was not a family-friendly choice. That is obvious from what is coming out in this debate. It is time we encouraged young females to get involved. I am not taking from males, and I know the Minister of State is committed to this. He set up a committee not so long ago. Maybe he could tell us how that is going and if it is considering options. New Zealand has set a very good, robust example in respect of young females and maternity leave for female councillors. This all came to a head when a Green Party councillor resigned back in February. She cited the fact that being a councillor was not family-friendly and that she had time off from work but not from the council. That highlighted the whole issue.

I pay compliment to the councillors and the AILG, which has been involved in this. They have been looking for these measures for quite a while. It is time we looked at the sitting hours of council meetings. In some councils the sittings are in the evening. Maybe councillors' respective husbands or partners or whatever are still at work. Some of the councils sit early in the morning. The life of a councillor has become so busy. It is a full-time job, as has been said. Especially when a baby is born, the best time is the first couple of weeks, when the mother and other family members spend that time with him or her. It is time we acted on this. We need to encourage more female participation in local government. Unless we introduce maternity leave, we are going the wrong way about it. I know that the Minister of State is committed to that and I look forward to hearing what he has to say. I thank him for his time and thank everyone who brought forward the motion.