Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 July 2022
458. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he intends to publish the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022; if the Bill will remove the word woman from existing primary legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36117/22]
View answerOn 21 April the Government gave its approval for the drafting of a Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, the main purpose of which is to transpose elements of the EU Work Life Balance Directive and provide new rights to parents and carers in order to support a better work life balance. The General Scheme of the proposed Bill is published on my Department's website. The General Scheme has been referred to the Office of the Attorney General for drafting of the Bill. The Bill is currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General and will be brought to Government when completed.
The General Scheme was also referred for pre-legislative scrutiny to the Oireachtas Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, which published its report on 9 June.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has received legal advice to the effect that a transgender man who has had his gender recognised under the Gender Recognition Act 2015, and subsequently becomes pregnant, would not at present be entitled to the leave under the Acts. It is therefore proposed, by way of Head 12 of the General Scheme, to address this anomaly which has existed since the enactment of the Gender Recognition Act seven years ago.
There is of course no proposal, nor any attempt, to more broadly “erase” women from legislation. Women, quite obviously, continue to enjoy the full suite of social supports and protections around pregnancy that is enshrined in our laws and will continue to do so. Such a characterisation insinuates a bizarre motivation on the part of the Government, when in fact the only motivation is to ensure the fair application of the law to a very small, but real, number of individuals.
