Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 6

Written Answers. - Family-Friendly Work Practices.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

208 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his Department's policy on family-friendly work options; if he will report on which of the following are available to staff: flexitime; job sharing; job splitting; part- time work; term-time work; alternative work arrangements and career breaks; and the number of staff who are currently availing of each of these options. [15248/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The family-friendly options available in my Department include flexitime, job-sharing, career breaks and term time – from June 2001. Part-time work is available in a limited number of positions. There are currently 1,925 officers in my Department availing of the various family-friendly work options. The attached table sets out the details requested.

My Department will continue to be proactive in the implementation of future family friendly schemes introduced by the Government. In my capacity as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I have taken a number of initiatives in relation to family-friendly policies. I amended the Maternity Protection Act, 1994 and the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995 on 8 February 2001 to give effect to the budget announcement in relation to increased entitlements to maternity and adoptive leave. As a result of the amendments, entitlements to paid maternity and adoptive leave have been increased by four weeks with effect from 8 March 2001 and entitlements to unpaid maternity and adoptive leave have also been increased by four weeks with effect from that date. A father's entitlement to leave in the event of the death of the mother around the time of the birth or adoption has also been increased.

The increases in maternity leave have come about as a result of the recommendations of a working group, set up by my Department to review and improve maternity protection legislation. The group was set up in accordance with commitments in the Government's An Action Programme for the Millennium and the PPF and comprised representatives of the social partners and relevant Government Departments and agencies. The working group's recommendations to increase maternity leave were fast-tracked ahead of other recommendations to ensure women could benefit from the increase as quickly as possible. Primary legislation will be required to give effect to some of the recommendations of the working group. Work has already commenced on the primary legislation.

Adoptive leave was not within the remit of the working group, but the Government decided that, in the interests of equality, the increases in maternity leave recommended by the group would also apply to adoptive leave. In accordance with a requirement under the Parental Leave Act, 1998 and a commitment in the PPF, my Department in consultation with other relevant Departments and the social partners is conducting a review of the operation of the Parental Leave Act, 1998.

A research project by the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Trinity College, is being co-funded by the EU Commission and my Department. It will identify the key issues concerning the reconciliation of work and family roles, with particular emphasis on how to involve men in family and domestic activities. The research will include a focus on attitudes of men and women as workers and as parents and social policies designed to address these issues.

My Department has responsibility for leading the development of child care service delivery in Ireland. EU and Exchequer funding comprising £344 million has been allocated to my Department over the course of the national development plan between 2000 and 2006 to improve child care provision and quality throughout the country. The initial allocation to my Department of £250 million under the NDP has been augmented by further funding under the anti-inflationary package for child care and the transfer of funding for school age child care from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and the Department of Education and Science. The transfer of funds follows a recent Government decision to rationalise child care funding and move towards what is in essence a one stop shop for funding available to child care providers.

The objectives of the equal opportunities child care programme are to increase the availability of child care places, to improve the quality of child care provision and to ensure the co-ordination of child care service provision on a local and national level. Capital grants are available to community based groups and private child care providers while staffing grants are available to eligible community based not for profit organisations. In addition, grants are available for quality improvement projects such as local child care networks, local child care training models, innovative projects and supports for the national voluntary child care organisations. My Department is represented on the national framework committee for the development of family-friendly policies which has been established under the PPF. As part of its programme of work, the committee organised family-friendly workplace day on 1 March 2001.

	Availability	Number of Staff availing of this option at 30/04/01
Flexitime	Available, with certain exceptions, from Clerical Officer to Higher Executive Officer grades.The possibility of extending the availability of flexible working hours to some Assistant Principal Officers and equivalent grades is currently being considered in my Department.	1,418
Job-sharing	Available to all grades	297
Part-time work	Not widely available	26
Term time work	Available to all grades	50will avail of term time from June 2001
Career Breaks	Available to all grades on completion of probation.	134

Question No. 209 answered with Question No. 109.

Question No. 210 answered with Question No. 74.

Questions Nos. 211 and 212 answered with Question No. 109.

Question No. 213 answered with Question No. 104.