Niamh Smyth
Ceist:538. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made on the equality objectives of his Department specifically in relation to women. [11068/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 1 March 2022
Ceisteanna (538)
Freagraí scríofa
Significant advances have been made in recent years to address inequality in Irish society, with the Government’s commitment to fostering a diverse, inclusive and equal society re-affirmed through the Programme for Government commitments to achieve social solidarity, equality of opportunity and economic equity for all.
My Department leads on cross-government policy to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2021 has provided us with a whole-of-Government framework through which women’s empowerment continues to be advanced.
Some recent achievements in gender equality in my Department include;
Reporting by employers with over 250 employers on their gender pay gap under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 will begin this year. Regulations implementing the Act are currently being developed and it is anticipated these will be finalised and published in early 2022.
Significant advances have been made in the provision of family leaves, including the extension of Parent’s Leave and Benefit to five weeks for each parent and extending entitlement to Adoptive Leave to fathers through the Family Leaves and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021.
Parent's Leave and Benefit will be further extended to seven weeks for each parent from July of this year and I will also shortly bring to Government Heads of a Bill to give effect to some remaining aspects of the EU Work Life Balance Directive including the right of workers to Carers' Leave of five working days per year, and providing workers who are parents of children up to at least 8 years old, and carers under the Directive, with a right to request flexible working arrangements.
Provision for maternity leave for Members of the Oireachtas is also under active consideration by my Department, and I hope to advance this work in 2022.
In addition, my Department is currently developing proposals for the introduction of Domestic Violence Leave to enable persons experiencing domestic violence to have time off work, including to attend court to secure orders against the person perpetrating such violence.
Other, ongoing work includes the establishment of an Interdepartmental Network in 2021, co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to fully implement gender and equality budgeting. The group will facilitate the embedding of the Equality Budgeting Initiative across all Government departments, and guide its continued progress.
Looking to the future, the Programme for Government “Our Shared Future” includes a commitment that the Government will develop and implement a new National Strategy for Women and Girls. I will work with stakeholders to examine what has been achieved over the term of the National Strategy for Women and Girls and consider how we can develop a new Strategy which even more robust and effective. In this regard, my Department has commissioned a study to evaluate the processes for implementation of three equality strategies, which includes the National Strategy for Women and Girls as well as the Migrant Integration Strategy and the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy. Consultations in regard to the successor strategy will commence during 2022, with work to build the new Strategy taking place in 2023.