TÁNAISTE JOAN BURTON has said she is not a fan of plans by some major tech companies to cover the costs for female employees to freeze their eggs.

Speaking ahead of a joint IBEC and Women for Election post-budget debate this morning,  the Labour party leader said people should be able to have children at the time of their choosing.

She made the comments following reports that companies such as Facebook and Apple are giving money to female employees who wish to undergo the procedure to delay childbearing until a later date.

“I think whenever you have discussions among women, particularly women in business and women at work, there’s always a discussion around what’s called work-life balance,” she said.

“And certainly in terms of young women, and women who want to have children and are of childbearing age, I think my preference would be the traditional way, that whenever that happens for people, that they’re able to actually have children and they’re able to balance their family and their work [and] life”.

Separately, the Tánaiste raised concerns about Irish Water and how long it is taking for customers to receive a response to their queries.

She said that politicians across Leinster House have raised the issue with Irish Water about how they are resolving problems.

“One of the things that politicians across Leinster House have raised with Irish Water is in the case of… TDs and Senators… if they raise a query on behalf of a constituent, they would like to be able to get a reasonable response which they can then pass back to their constituent,” she said.

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Read: Facebook and Apple pay for female workers to freeze their eggs >