TDs’ maternity leave is step in right direction

IT HAS been an unfair disadvantage that, until now, women serving as TDs have had no entitlement to maternity leave, and to get any time with their newborn children, they have had to get sick certs from their doctors.

That is a clear example of the sort of inequality we have done so much in recent years to consign to history, and one we are happy to see corrected. A planned new law will see women TDs given an extra staff member for their Oireachtas offices so they can take up to the statutory 26 weeks allowed for others. They will also receive their full parliamentary allowances during that period, a supplementary income other women can only dream of.

It is widely accepted we need more women in politics, but just as obvious that the main bar to them pursuing political careers is the time restraints placed on them during their child-bearing and childrearing years. Correcting that imbalance and making the Oireachtas more familyfriendly is a positive step to inclusion.

While we absolutely accept that attracting more women to Kildare Street is admirable, politics is not the only area of public life where more women are needed. There are many thousands of women running their own businesses, juggling work and family commitments – and there likely are many thousands more who would do so, and create new jobs, if they too had proper maternity leave and benefits.

The self-employed are the backbone of the economy, especially in rural areas, where they can halt the drift to the city and counteract the disproportionate reliance of the economy on Dublin and other large urban areas. They need supports similar to those female TDs will enjoy. The Government must do more for these self-starters who have so much to offer.