‘It’s not easy but it’s important to show that it can be done’: Helen McEntee rejects maternity leave criticism

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has spoken out about negative commentary over her decision to take maternity leave and said that she is aware that there are “some people who don’t approve”.

Ms McEntee said that it was “difficult” and “not straightforward” although she said the vast majority of her political colleagues have supported her.

She returned from maternity leave at the start of the month after giving birth to her second son.

Speaking about her agenda for the coming months outside Government Buildings on Wednesday morning, Ms McEntee was asked about media coverage of leadership jostling within Fine Gael, with some ruling her out as a candidate because of her maternity leave.

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“I’m sure there are people who don’t approve of the fact that I took maternity leave for a second time. I don’t really have much to say to that. I think, the same as any other woman, I should be entitled to take maternity leave insofar as possible and go about my work, come back and continue my job. That is exactly what I intend to do.”

Asked about negative commentary, she said it was coming from “a small minority of people.”

“I’ll be very honest, the vast majority of my colleagues, including the Taoiseach and many others, have been nothing but supportive and I can’t stress that enough. I think the vast majority of people are supportive. Anybody who isn’t, I think that’s their own issue. Of course, we want more women in politics and I hope by myself and indeed many of my other colleagues taking maternity leave that it shows it is a career for women, that it is a pathway, that women cannot just be a TD and progress and be a minister but that you can actually continue to progress in your career whilst having children.”

“It’s difficult. Can I just say that. It is not straightforward and anybody who’s working and has children whether they are male or female, it’s not straightforward. It’s not easy. But at the same time, it’s important to show that it can be done.”

Ms McEntee also defended the proposed hate crime and hate speech bill, and said she believes the majority of people want to see it enacted.

The Bill has attracted criticism from a wide variety of sources, including Elon Musk, Donald Trump jnr, People Before Profit, Aontú, a variety of independent TDs and various commentators. Some of the criticism has centred around the Bills’ provisions which would criminalise hate speech even when it is contained in material on an individual’s computer, and not actually disseminated.

Ms McEntee was asked if the Government is in the minority in wanting the legislation passed.

“It is incorrect to say that the vast majority of people don’t want this. I think even if you were to listen to the debate last night in the Seanad and certainly the debate in the Dáil, the vast majority of people do want this.”

“Firstly, when it comes to the hate speech and the hate crime legislation, the reason that we haven’t defined hate is by defining hate and using another word, you then have to try and describe essentially what that means. And you’re potentially leaving a gap where certain prosecutions might fall or where it may be more difficult to have prosecutions under this legislation. And that’s based on advice from not just the current Attorney General but the previous attorney general. If you look at other jurisdictions – Scotland, Wales, UK – where they use different words, be it ill-will or malice, they don’t then describe what that means. There’s a general understanding of what those words mean.

“There is a lot of commentary on what is happening in other jurisdictions. There is a lot of commentary on culture wars that are potentially happening. And what we need to do is rise above that. Even names that have been put to me, be it JK Rowling or others, these are not people who have been prosecuted. These are not people that have had charges brought against them. This is commentary that is happening in a public domain. And while that happens, we’re actually forgetting about the people that are at the crux of this legislation. There are people in this country who don’t want to leave their house because they’re afraid and that is nothing to do with commentary and culture wars that might be happening.

“This legislation is about protecting them from hate crimes. Political discourse, debate, a lot of the commentary referred to in these culture wars, that is not what we’re talking about. We’re not preventing people from expressing views, expressing opinions, expressing facts, doing so for various different reasons, but it in an artistic or political or cultural way. This is about the most extreme forms of where that language then turns into a hate crime. So I don’t believe this will have a chilling effect.”

The Minister also gave an update on her plans to improve supports for victims of sexual crimes. A forthcoming Bill will increase the maximum sentence for assault causing harm from five years to 10 years, allow life sentences for conspiracy to murder, make stalking and non-fatal strangulation stand-alone offences, and expand the existing harassment offence.