{"id":1977,"date":"2022-12-01T17:11:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/"},"modified":"2022-12-01T17:11:13","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:11:13","slug":"bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Exclusion of adoptive and parental leave is a missed opportunity\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A Bill to provide maternity leave entitlements to councillors falls short of the level of reform required to encourage more women to enter politics, according to Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Cairns was speaking in advance of a debate on the second stage of the Local Government (Maternity Protection and Other Measures for Members of Local Authorities) Bill 2022 in the D\u00e1il today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen make up less than a quarter of TDs in the D\u00e1il, with similar\u00a0low levels of representation in local authorities across the country. If we want to increase the number of women participating in Irish political life, then we need to identify all the barriers so we can work to remove them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lack of maternity leave provision for councillors is one such barrier. I welcome that progress has been made on this issue and\u00a0the Bill will address this anomaly by treating elected members as employees for the purposes of entitlement to maternity leave. It also allows for\u00a0temporary co-option while a councillor is on leave.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, the Bill is a wasted opportunity to bring in more far-reaching reforms in time for the 2024 Local Elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had previously introduced a Private Members\u2019 Bill in the D\u00e1il, not only seeking full maternity entitlements for councillors, but also parental and adoptive leave. These measures are inexplicably excluded from the legislation we are debating today, which is a very short-sighted approach by the Government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParental and adoptive leave recognise the diversity of family life, and they are gender neutral. The exclusion of men from the Bill completely sends out the wrong message and simply reinforces the role of a woman as the primary care giver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe positive aspects of this Bill will be diluted by the Government\u2019s failure to address other significant impediments to women running for political office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>December 1, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exclusion of adoptive and parental leave is a missed opportunity\u00a0 A Bill to provide maternity leave entitlements to councillors falls short of the level of reform required to encourage more women to enter politics, according to Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns. Deputy Cairns was speaking in advance of a debate on the second stage of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395,400,7,399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-council","category-holly-cairns","category-press-release","category-tds"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exclusion of adoptive and parental leave is a missed opportunity\u00a0 A Bill to provide maternity leave entitlements to councillors falls short of the level of reform required to encourage more women to enter politics, according to Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns. Deputy Cairns was speaking in advance of a debate on the second stage of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":328,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Holly2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Council\",\"Holly Cairns\",\"Press Release\",\"TDs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Holly2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Holly2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/Holly2.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Holly2\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\",\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/zoo-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats","og_description":"Exclusion of adoptive and parental leave is a missed opportunity\u00a0 A Bill to provide maternity leave entitlements to councillors falls short of the level of reform required to encourage more women to enter politics, according to Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns. Deputy Cairns was speaking in advance of a debate on the second stage of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ZOO Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ZOO Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/"},"author":{"name":"ZOO Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960"},"headline":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms","datePublished":"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/"},"wordCount":328,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg","articleSection":["Council","Holly Cairns","Press Release","TDs"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/","name":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-01T17:11:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Holly2.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"caption":"Holly2"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/bill-to-introduce-maternity-leave-for-councillors-falls-short-of-required-reforms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bill to introduce maternity leave for councillors falls short of required reforms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960","name":"ZOO Admin","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}