Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and commend my colleagues in the Labour Party for putting together this excellent Bill, which Sinn Féin fully supports. This is a workers' rights issue. I listened to Senator Hoey's recounting of the testimonies, including women having to get up at 5 a.m. in order to get IVF treatment and then go to their workplace. I cannot help but feel that, if this were an issue men had to experience, it would have been resolved decades ago. It is welcome that we are tackling it with this Bill. I commend the Leader on giving Government time and facilitating it. That is the type of constructive politics the Seanad can demonstrate, and when it does it, it does it really well.

The idea that women have to pretend nothing has happened and return to work after experiencing a miscarriage is offensive on so many levels and it is time we tackled it. I share the Leader's concerns about the fact that six months have passed between Second Stage and this Stage, and it would be great if we could get a commitment to getting the Bill moving. I am conscious we are running out of time in today's session but let us hope there will be an early follow-on Committee Stage session in order that we can get it moving. Pregnant human beings are waiting for it to be resolved. Anyone who knows someone who has undergone IVF treatment, as I do, will know how stressful it is.

The Bill's intentions are excellent.The INTO deserves credit for championing this cause for so long. It is great that there appears to be cross-party support. The Minister will take note of that. Let us hope that we work constructively because what I would not want to see is a situation where we are told that this Bill is good but there is a better way of doing things. There should be enough co-operation across the Seanad Chamber to ensure that we get this Bill, improved if it needs to be, across the line as quickly as we can so that we can achieve change for women.