Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will try to speak to the issue at hand and not to every single issue under the sun relating to women. This will probably be one of the best pieces of legislation ever passed. It will go down in history. I thank the Minister of State on behalf of all women in Ireland.

Becoming a councillor is often the first step to getting everywhere else, namely, to the Seanad or the Dáil. This is momentous win for the women of Ireland - and for the men as well - because they have been carrying the can for far too long. We are happy to take on a bit more responsibility if we get the chance. This maternity leave legislation will make a massive difference. As a single parent, I felt I could not take on the role until my child was reared. Doing so just seemed impossible. This is a monumental occasion. Of course, there are many other issues that the Opposition likes to bring up that are not relevant to this.

The Minister of State started the process relating to this legislation. In March 2021, he set up an all-female working group to examine the provision of maternity leave for county and city councillors. It is great. In Clare alone, we have three female councillors out of 28. I am not easily intimidated, but I found it very intimidating when I served as a councillor. It was only when I came into the Seanad and saw many women - we have a good representation of females in the Seanad compared with the Dáil or local authorities - that I realised how it makes you feel when you are in a room that is mainly occupied by men. I would not have been aware of that until I experienced being in a political atmosphere with many women alongside me. It affects us, no matter how confident or unintimidated we think we are.

This legislation very important. When trying to get people to think about running for local elections - I have been talking to different women - they just could not see how it would be possible in the absence of this legislative change. This maternity leave is huge. More and more women realise that they have to stand up and that their voices need to be heard in every chamber. Without maternity leave, that would not be possible. This is a good day for women and men in Ireland, and a good day for young people to see that we value women as much as men and they will need maternity leave because of all of the things that go with it. We need breastfeeding rooms in every single local authority, not, “Oh we have breastfeeding supports in the toilet or the disabled toilet.” I have often been shown the disabled toilet as the place where I could have breastfed my son. That is not good enough.

Women can come back to work if there are supports in the workplace around breastfeeding. They can take the maternity leave, but such supports would also empower them to come back to work. Many friends of mine have to find a toilet to express milk, for instance, in the middle of the working day. They have to sit in a toilet to do that, which is just backward. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your child. We need proper facilities. It is not good enough anymore to expect a woman to hide herself away in order to express milk. Many women find it very depressing to sit and hide away when doing the most natural thing in the world. Supports in this regard will have to follow on from the provision of this maternity leave. That will increase the ability of women to come back to work as well. Women want choices. We do not all need to take maternity leave for the time we can. Some of us need to take it for longer and some of us could come to work sooner if there were better supports in the context of breastfeeding and expressing milk.

It is a good day and this a good Bill. We are improving matter slowly. It would be great to see more women running in elections for local authorities. We need them. Everybody needs them. It is not just a case of women can do better; we are equal to men. This is a very good day, and I appreciate this Bill. For men, even if they are feminists, it might be hard to understand how important it is. The experience women have when it comes to trying to juggle being a mother and going back to work is phenomenal. It is brain-melting trying to figure out how you are supposed to do it all. Now we can have women who will feel that they will be able to stand for election and be supported in the job of a county councillor, which, up until the advent of this Bill, they have not been. I hope it will encourage many more women to step up and join us in trying to have gender balance at every level of politics in Ireland. It could make a huge difference. Why should you not get maternity leave if you need to be with your child when you also want to be a politician?

I thank the Minister of State for this legislation. We have not always agreed on everything, but this is a very important day. He should be proud of himself. I will call the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, a feminist from today on.

Ar son mhná na hÉireann, is lá iontach agus stairiúil é seo. Má thugtar an deis seo do mhná, b’fhéidir go n-athróidh sé gach rud. I firmly believe that if we had more women involved in things, we would have fewer wars and less destruction of the planet. Many things would be done better if we had gender balance. It would be better for men and women. The patriarchy has never served men or women well. We have been fitted into stereotypes that do not suit anybody. Many males struggle with the patriarchy as well. This Bill has definitely opened a chink in that old historic armour around the patriarchy. I thank the Minister of State very much for his work on it.