Vol. 533 No. 6
72 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if a recent agreement allowing full-time civil servants with children aged 18 or younger to have up to 13 weeks unpaid leave a year is being implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6987/01]
The term time scheme negotiated with staff representatives allows civil servants to take either ten or 13 weeks unpaid leave from June until the end of August. The purpose of the scheme is to allow working parents or primary carers to match their working arrangements with the main summer holidays of their children, or to care for a person who resides with them and who has a disability which gives rise to the need for care on a continuing or frequent basis.
Term time is available throughout the civil service from 2001 onwards having previously been available on a pilot basis in a limited number of Departments and offices. The operation of the scheme is subject to the operating requirements of Departments not being adversely affected.
All Departments have notified their staff about the term time scheme and to date approximately 725 applications to participate in the scheme in 2001 have been received. A small number of applications were withdrawn. A total of 90% of the remaining applications have been approved with decisions still pending in a small number of cases. The Civil Service Commission has recently advertised the for temporary replacement staff in the Dublin region and individual Departments are organising the recruitment of replacement staff elsewhere.
The Government views the introduction of the term time scheme throughout the Civil Service as an important addition to the range of family friendly working arrangements currently available in the civil servants.
