Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome to the House. I also very much welcome the Bill. It is another step along the way of trying to make our legislation more equitable, look to families and people's lives and the all-elusive work-life balance we all strive for. I am sure that as Members we fail at that. I laugh at the irony of us bringing in this legislation while our lives are very much imbalanced.

Nonetheless, this is an important day. The Bill builds on the gender pay gap legislation. It is about making work work for families and women. I will follow on from what Senator Currie said. It is about the culture of work and changing our attitude to work and the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. concept of it. We must be realistic that the system was made by men to work for men. At 9 a.m., the kids were at school and when they came home the kids were fed, the homework was done, and they had a nice evening ahead of them because the wife was at home doing all the work. Work must change and our concept and understanding of what work is must change, with more women in the labour force and more men sharing the care. We must change the concept of the work culture and how we understand it to be.

I will go through some of the welcome changes in this amended Bill. For me, one of the big initiatives I was pushing, along with Women's Aid Dundalk and Safe Ireland relates to paid leave for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It is a great step along the way. I know Safe Ireland has been working on it for so long. Ann Larkin from Dundalk Women's Aid is also on the board of Safe Ireland. Those organisations do significant work. I learn from them every day about the importance of this, and the acknowledgment that women in work go through domestic violence and they need a breathing space. The State has acknowledged that it is there to help. We accept that people, mostly women, need this. It is a great day. Five days' leave is a great start. As politicians we always ask for more. We must make this part of a step towards a minimum of ten days. It is difficult to move a family or to reach a safe place in five days, get help, get the refuge and all the things that are required. While five days' leave is very important, it is very tight. We need to train and support businesses to help them understand what this work-life balance Bill will mean to them and their staff. Breastfeeding, for example, is hugely important and businesses must understand their responsibility to make it as easy as possible. We do not want women feeling under pressure when they ask for these things in their workplaces. They must understand that these measures are in place and know what to do to accommodate these changes in their workplace.

I will follow up on the contribution of Senator Currie, the Seanad's expert on remote working who has done an awful lot of work in the area and spoken about it since she became a Senator. We all have to learn exactly what is meant by flexible and remote working. We must encourage people to make the change and encourage businesses to allow change to happen.

I ask the Minister to ensure the Bill is constantly reviewed. The Workplace Relations Commission must have a role in reviewing the legislation, examining ways to improve it and pushing for cultural change. As the culture changes, what we expect from this legislation will change, as I am sure it will.

I commend the Minister and his officials on the work they have done on this Bill. The Minister has produced a raft of legislation in the past two and a half years and hugely important changes have been made. I commend the Bill to the House.