Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee Julien Behal via PA Images

Public won't be thankful if new minister appointed to replace McEntee during maternity leave, Nora Owen says

Justice Minister Helen McEntee will become the first Cabinet minister to give birth while in office.

FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER Nora Owen has said she does not believe the public would be “thankful” if a new minister were to be appointed to replace the current Justice Minister when she has her baby.

The former Fine Gael politician said Helen McEntee will face criticism from the public for taking leave, despite being entitled to take time to take care of her child.

She added that McEntee’s upcoming absence would be “giving somebody, somewhere, a lot of headaches”.

Owen also said it was “extraordinary” that it appeared a constitutional amendment is needed to ensure public representatives, including McEntee, are permitted to take maternity leave.

McEntee will become the first Cabinet minister to give birth while in office. The baby is due in May and McEntee intends on taking six months’ leave.

At present, public office holders have to claim sick leave when they take time off to have and look after their newborn baby.

Owen, who was justice minister between 1994 and 1997, told the PA news agency: “It does raise the whole issue of what happens when somebody like Helen [McEntee] goes and says she’s going to take her full six months.

“She will have to be paid because she’s entitled to be paid. But do you put another person in and is there another full ministerial salary paid out?

“Do you raise the profile of a junior minister and put them into a senior ministry? Do they get the extra money because they are on less pay? And then do you appoint a temporary Junior minister?”

2.58474307 Nora Owen as justice minister outside 10 Downing Street in London in 1996 Michael Stephens Michael Stephens

Owen added: “I don’t think the public would be thankful, I think, for kind of a full new minister to be appointed on the full salary at a time when people are really struggling.

“I’d imagine that is an area that is giving somebody, somewhere, a lot of headaches.”

She added: “I admire her [McEntee] because she will get criticism.

“Someone will say: ‘Oh, she’s getting her salary, she should be in there’. She will get her salary the same as anybody else on leave when they’re out.”

Owen said it was a “pity” that a referendum may be needed before women TDs, senators and councillors are given maternity rights, and that it “worries” her that more women are not entering political life.

Owen features in Proud to Serve: The Voices of the Women of Cumann na nGaedheal and Fine Gael 1922-1992.

Fine Gael is marking International Women’s Day by launching a reprint of the book by Maria Hegarty and Martina Murray.

A grandniece of Michael Collins, Owen was elected to Dáil Eireann in 1981 and served as a TD for Dublin North for two decades.

When she was first elected to the Dáil she had three small children and was one of only a handful of female TDs.

In the book she recounts how after winning her first seat in 1981 a journalist was overheard reading out his article as he called his newspaper: “An anonymous suburban housewife has just had a surprise victory in Dublin North.”

She said she had to deal with men referring to her as a housewife throughout her career, using it as a “way to put people down or put them back in their box”.

She also said she had been left “seething” on numerous occasions as male TDs passed off her ideas as their own.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 59 comments
Close
59 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james Goodyear
    Favourite james Goodyear
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:32 AM

    Women don’t make good comediennes.

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lester Jeffcoat
    Favourite Lester Jeffcoat
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    Says the over-thinking potato.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mjhint
    Favourite Mjhint
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:01 AM

    No actually Christopher Hitchens said it & done an article in Vanity Fair about the fact that evolution may have made men funny as they have to be for the purpose of mating whereas women don’t require the same tactic. After several rebuttals by women including several successful female comedians it appears they only managed to confirm his hypothesis.

    32
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:13 AM

    James, you’re a gas man. Laughing my head off here at your witty joke!

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Beachmaster
    Favourite Beachmaster
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Oh now!

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:48 AM

    Boobies are not light entertainment, they have no need for cheap funbag jokes.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gavin Corrigan
    Favourite Gavin Corrigan
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:34 PM

    Similar to drivers, good women comedians are a minority

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute catkins407
    Favourite catkins407
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Definitely” over thinking girl”. It’s a lot better than me. I struggle very much to read people and social situations so I end up being ” what inappropriate fecking thing did I say now ” woman. Lol

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:24 AM

    Glad I’m not alone in that C! I think we all have situations where we overthink – and it can be such a pain. Often it doesn’t do anything positive for us either.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:45 AM

    Is overtalking a thing?

    10
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan Stokes
    Favourite Ronan Stokes
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:14 AM

    Jo Brand is a brilliant comedian, doesn’t take any crap and knows how to deliver a good story. Similar dead pan style Jack Dee. Im not a fan of Sue Perkins style as I think its very one dimensional, for me it’s more of a “look how clever and witty I am”, as opposed to delivering something funny about life. Her style seems very approval seeking.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ruairi O'Hagan
    Favourite Ruairi O'Hagan
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Great stuff Aoife! Looking forward to the next part!

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Thanks so much R! :D

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dj
    Favourite dj
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:43 AM

    Go on,tell us a joke.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Sands
    Favourite Michael Sands
    Report
    Oct 11th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Enda and Joan are leaders of their parties in a government together, how’s that dj lol.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
    Favourite Chauncey Gardiner
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 12:23 PM

    Fair play to you Aoife! It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Cheney
    Favourite Richard Cheney
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 1:06 PM

    Jim Jefferies,Doug Stanhope,George Carlin,Bill Hicks – all highly recommended

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Uncle Monty
    Favourite Uncle Monty
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Oh yes, I’ll add Louis CK.if you don’t mind. Doug Stanhope talking about the death of his mother is worth a watch…

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds