Extended maternity leave for councillors proposed

Proposals for the provision of paid maternity leave for local councillors have been announced by the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG).

The lack of specified maternity leave for local authority elected members had been identified by the association as a “major barrier” to attracting and retaining female councillors. In March, Green Party councillor Clare O’Byrne criticised the lack of leave as she resigned from South Dublin County Council after giving birth.

The AILG recommends that the Local Government Act 2001 be amended to provide for maternity leave as an excused absence from a local authority without the need for a resolution from the council.

Currently the act states that a councillor who is absent for more than six months is deemed to have resigned his or her seat. For a woman to take extended maternity leave at present she would need the local authority to pass a resolution to allow the absence due to “illness” or a “good faith” reason.

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There should be no reduction in a members’ remuneration payment (€25,788 per year) during the first six months of parental leave, and a 50 per cent reduction in the payment for the subsequent six months, the association recommends. Any additional absence, up to a maximum of 18 months, should be unpaid.

Also advised is the provision of secretarial support, and consideration should be given to exempting new parents from the rule which requires a member to attend more than 50-80 per cent of meetings to be eligible for annual expenses.

Councils should also facilitate remote attendance and voting at meetings, while a vote pairing system should be introduced.

A substitute would be beneficial for a member who wants to take a complete break, the report notes.

President of the association, Mary Hoade, herself a Galway County councillor, said it is “totally unacceptable” that new mothers are put in the position of having to get permission for council colleagues to extend their maternity leave.

“Our priority is to help and support our current elected women councillors, encourage more women to consider putting themselves forward to election at local level and to promote better gender equality and diversity in our local government system,” she said.

‘Pragmatic and sensible’

While welcoming the proposals generally as “pragmatic and sensible”, independent councillor Joanna Tuffy felt there could have been more of a focus on facilitating women bringing their babies into the council chamber.

“I think the most important thing in terms of women in politics is that they should be allowed to bring their babies into the chamber and should be able to breastfeed there,” said Ms Tuffy, who gave birth while a member of the Oireachtas.

She said women councillors with babies should able to “speak out and be visible in the debates”.

“They are totally focused on new mothers being absent… When it comes to democracy we don’t want women with babies just to disappear as the one group that is absent,” she added.