Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
17 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the details of the membership of the partnership committee established under Sustaining Progress to examine child care for working parents; and the efforts his Department has made to encourage employers to allow employees extended career breaks to look after their very young children. [18129/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, the subject of child care for working parents, with particular emphasis on the feasibility of establishing workplace child care arrangements, is presently under consideration by a partnership sub-committee which has been established under Sustaining Progress.
The purpose of the sub-committee is to consider how to improve the availability of quality child care for working parents and how the supply of pre-school and after-school child care places can be accelerated. In particular, the sub-committee will examine and make recommendations on the feasibility of establishing workplace child care arrangements such as the following: provision of specific supports to facilitate employers and unions to work together to both design and implement a range of child care supports appropriate at the level of the enterprise; greater targeting of resources towards the active participation of employers in developing and providing child care initiatives, in consultation with the unions.
My Department has facilitated a number of meetings and provides executive support to this committee. The committee first met on 10 June 2003 and comprises Ms Sylda Langford, chair, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ms Pauline Moreau, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform; Ms Maria Cronin, IBEC; Ms Heidi Lougheed, IBEC; Mr. David Joyce, ICTU; Ms Rosheen Callendar, ICTU; and Ms Denise Fleming, Secretary, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The child care requirements of parents can vary significantly depending on their personal circumstances and work patterns and it is likely that individual organisations would need to tailor their policies according to the needs of their employees. As such, my Department is not directly involved in actively encouraging employers to allow employees extended career breaks to address their child care needs and would consider such matters more appropriate to individual organisations and employers concerned.
However, my Department does have responsibility for the Parental Leave Act 1998 which provides for unpaid leave for parents to care for their young children. The Act, which transposed the Parental Leave Directive (96/34/EC) into Irish law, came into force on 3 December 1998. The Act provides an individual and non-transferable entitlement to parents to avail of 14 weeks per child unpaid leave from work to take care of young children. This leave must be taken before the child reaches his or her five birthday, except in very limited circumstances in the case of an adopted child. A review of the Parental Leave Act was conducted in 2001 by a working group comprising the social partners, relevant Departments and the Equality Authority and the report of the working group on the review of the Parental Leave Act 1998 was published in April 2002.
The Government is committed, as part of the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement, to improving the parental leave provisions and work is currently at an advanced stage in my Department on the heads of Bill to implement the agreed recommendations of the working group. It is hoped that the Bill will be published later this year.
