I propose to take Questions Nos. 326 to 328, inclusive, 330, 337, 342 to 344, inclusive, 357 and 406 together.
As the law now stands, a mother is entitled to this leave irrespective of the duration of her current employment. The mother can take maternity leave from casual or part-time employment. She can take up to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, and up to a further 16 weeks of unpaid leave. Two weeks must be taken before the baby is due, and at least four weeks must be taken after the birth. As Minister of State for Justice and Equality, the legislation that governs the provision of maternity leave is my responsibility and any such amendment would likely require primary legislation. The provision of maternity benefit is under the remit of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. These matters are currently being examined by Government.
As the Deputy will be aware on 29 May the Minister for Finance announced changes to the Wage Subsidy Scheme to accommodate the salaries of parents returning from maternity or adoptive leave. The changes are aimed at individuals who may not have been on the payroll of their employer on 29 February, or been paid in either January or February 2020 and will allow for consistent treatment with other employees.
Minister Donohoe has advised that the amendment will be legislated for later in the year as part of the usual Finance Bill 2020 process, but that in the interim Revenue has agreed that the provision will be implemented from 26 March where applicable. Input from employers is required and relevant employers are therefore encouraged to contact Revenue when the system update is launched so that the process of including the salaries of affected employees may begin as quickly as possible. It is expected the update will be launched on 12 June.
I am conscious of demands on parents at this time and hope that the additional measures to support working parents that I have introduced in recent years, including the new parent’s leave scheme and an extension of parental leave, are helping to ease some of these demands. In addition to maternity leave, each parent may also avail of two weeks of parent’s leave during the first year of a child’s life and may qualify for parent’s benefit during this period. Parental leave is also available which entitles parents to take unpaid leave from work to spend time looking after their children. Parents can take up to 22 weeks of parental leave for each eligible child before their 12th birthday.