Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate. I have been listening to what Senators have had to say and agree wholeheartedly with their comments. Ironically this is the very first issue I raised as a Senator after my election in the summer of 2020. I raised the issue because when I went out to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for the meeting at which the seat I had occupied was being filled by the co-option of Councillor Maurice Dockrell, I met Councillor Lorraine Hall, who had just had a baby, Conor. He was with her in the meeting, which took place not in the chamber but in the cold, draughty ferry terminal at Dún Laoghaire. Because of Covid they were not able to meet in the chamber at that time. There was no remote working facility and no facility to accommodate her with a young son. She still had to attend in person. It struck me that it was absolutely archaic to be in that position. I raised the matter 18 months ago or more. I am certainly delighted to see the debate happening today. It is, however, ridiculous that we are this long in and still have no action on this issue.

I also agree with what has been said about the general approach to local government and the need to provide more facilities, supports and generally more updated attitudes towards local government. I have also noted on many occasions in this Chamber the need to increase the powers and responsibilities of local authority members. This is a key aspect of being a councillor. We talk all the time about the importance of local government. It enjoys a particular position in Article 28A of the Constitution. It is recognised as being a vital part of the government of this country. I say that because it is constitutionally and legally the case. With no disrespect to the Minister of State, who has made great strides in his position, central government in Ireland over the last 20 years has had a very regressive approach to local government and has stripped away successive powers from members of local government.

I refer to the elected councillors who actually go out, knock on doors and ask people what their opinions are. The officials on the council, the executive, are never going to knock on a door and ask somebody what they think. Very often we see the opposite of what the public wants being effected by officials when in fact the councillors were opposing it but did not have the power to stop it. We talk about the importance of having people get involved in local politics and particularly about young blood in local politics and the importance of bringing young people into elected politics where they can contribute to their communities and work for their neighbours, friends and local community. Young people are the very people who are affected by maternity and paternity leave. The profile of local government is, on average, an older group than society as a whole. I think of my young colleagues on councils, particularly women, people like Councillor Bridin Murphy in Wexford and Councillor Evie Sammon in Kildare, who works here in the Houses of the Oireachtas, and Councillor Clodagh Higgins in Galway. They are there throughout the country but they are in the minority, young people who have gone out and got involved. They are in the minority because there is very little there to facilitate them. If they do decide to have a family they are in a very difficult position, just as Councillor Lorraine Hall was at that meeting of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in July or June of 2020.

As to what can be done about it, it is a really easy fix. It is not about money or providing for the facility to leave the position. The reality is that an elected person is not an employee. Elected representatives do have the power to step back from their positions and take up to six months out. However, that is not what elected people do. They do not run for office and put their lives on hold to become councillors and invest all the time, effort, money and resources that it takes to get elected, only to walk away and sit elsewhere for six months looking after a child, rewarding though that may be. They do not do that. Instead they take on all the burdens of the world and try to do everything at once. That compromises their ability to be a parent as much as it does their ability to be a councillor. They cannot do both things to 100%.

It is not even about that. It is about putting in place a facility to replace that person in the short term. It is about having a modern, progressive system, not unlike the European Parliament, that allows a list of substitutes. When I was on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, in order to replace independent councillors we required them to give a list of three names, sealed, to the executive, so that if they vacated the seat for whatever reason there was a list of people to whom that seat would then be offered in circumstances where the Local Government Act did not cover the scenario. Something similar for parents and prospective parents would make absolute sense. The councillor can step back and in his or her place there is a person who can step in, somebody the councillor trusts and knows will do a good job, possibly even somebody who is known to the electorate beforehand. We could do it in the same way that there is a list of alternates for the European Parliament. We could notify the electorate at the time of the election. Either way, it would provide for an opportunity for a councillor to step back, take seriously and dedicate themselves to their role as a parent but also know that their role as a councillor and representative of their local community is not compromised. There is a simple legislative solution to this. It is something we should be doing as a matter of priority.

The Minister of State has a very positive, reformist attitude to local government. I hope he will take the message back from this Chamber to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that this is what we would like to see. We say that on behalf of councillors around the country. Let us be modern and progressive. Let us change the system and recognise the fact that if we want young people to contribute in politics, we need also to facilitate their right to have a family.