Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to listen to all of the contributions. I thank my fellow Senators for their very pertinent thoughts and suggestions. There is no doubt that the role of the councillor is very much valued in this Chamber. It is very much valued also in the communities where councillors serve. It is nearly fashionable to slate public representatives, but when it comes down to the kernel of it, when people are looking for solid advice and when people are in a situation where they need support and a pathway to help them, they will turn most definitely first of all to the local councillor. Anyone who is in that privileged position acknowledges it as a privilege and wants to do his or her very best for the person who has reached out a hand looking for help. All too often, the sacrifice is made at the family end. It is something that many of us have been through. Like the Minister of State, I was the mayor of my county, I was the chair of my town council, and I was a councillor for many years. I derived great experience from it and great humility. When a person is in such a position it is a humbling experience, and it continues to be.

We have all spoken about how under-represented women are in local government. Ireland is significantly lower than Europe in this regard, even though nowhere in Europe has reached that true equality of 50:50. We must continue to work to keep changing that. There are many different ways to do that. I congratulate the See Her Elected campaign. It was wonderful to see that work acknowledged. I have been on a number of calls with Dr. Michelle Maher and her group. They are absolutely fantastic, as are Women For Election. They really are tremendous. They got together and saw in very practical ways how they could help to support female candidates, first of all to have the courage to run, then to help them through the selection process, then to get elected, and of course to help them stay the pace, which is very important.

I acknowledge that the programme for Government is committed to increasing greater diversity and female participation. The Minister of State is certainly playing his role and I thank him for outlining the measures that are being taken. I have had extensive conversations with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, as the senior Minister. He too is very committed, as is the Taoiseach. Just prior to coming into the Chamber we were on a call with the Minister, and he completely sees the value in providing supports for councillors, particularly for females. As I said earlier, I also received a letter from the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, about maternity leave. As has been said, there are three different Departments involved and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has assured his support on the matter.

I feel that with our collective supports and our collective energy we will be able to do this. It is necessary.It is wrong that it is 2021, with three weeks of the year to go, and nothing is in place. There is work to do but I have no doubt the commitment is there.

Senator Moynihan spoke about Stella Creasy, of whom I am a huge fan. I have been following that story. It is interesting that in Westminster an MP cannot breastfeed. We changed that in the last Dáil so that a woman could come in and breastfeed her child as a Member, which is only right. Separate to this, it is very important that facilities are in place in Leinster House to support mothers and fathers with family-friendly rooms and breastfeeding rooms. This is also for the staff, many of whom work late at night. This was how the family friendly forum was established. I represented the women's caucus on it. It made very strong recommendations, including on the hours. A number of Senators mentioned the unfriendly hours. Key recommendations were made on this.

With regard to the formal substitute and replacement system, there was much debate at the AILG on this. The consensus was that all female councillors respected their own democratic mandate. Their constituents had voted for them personally and it is very difficult to hand this mandate over to someone else. For some people it may work. The key word is "flexibility" and the Minister of State mentioned it. We need a suite of measures whereby women can choose what suits them at a particular point. Most definitely, maternity leave can and must be facilitated and must be prioritised. Extra administrative support would be very important.

With regard to the consultation that took place with councillors of all parties and none, all of the councillors take pride in their work and the role they play. I commend the number of men who came on the call and the number of male councillors who responded by stating we need this. This is important. Male councillors and Senators must support bringing into place maternity leave and support paternity and adoptive leave. I thank everybody for the opportunity to have the debate and the Cathaoirleach for scheduling it. We look forward to the next phase.