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Gnáthamharc

Parental Leave

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 April 2018

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Ceisteanna (113)

Robert Troy

Ceist:

113. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if the entitlements to parental leave will be reviewed with a view to providing a uniform platform for persons employed in the public service and those employed in the private sector; his views on whether the present system whereby public service workers are entitled to 12 weeks leave compared to a minimum of eight weeks in the private sector is unfair; and the measures he will bring forward to ensure parity in this area for employees. [18456/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Parental Leave Act 1998 came into operation on 3 December 1998 for the purposes of creating an entitlement to Parental Leave from a person’s employment where they are the natural or adoptive parent of a child. Section 6 of the Act, as originally drafted, contains the key provision, entitling an individual to 14 weeks of unpaid Parental Leave to be taken before the relevant child reaches the age of 5 years.

The Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2006 was enacted on 18 May 2006 and updated the 1998 Act to provide 14 weeks unpaid Parental Leave for a child up to the age of eight, or 16 years of age in the case of a child with a disability. The Act was again amended by the European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No 81 of 2013) to provide for 18 weeks unpaid Parental Leave in respect of a child up to the age of 8 years. Furthermore, section 6(2)(c) of the Act was expanded to provide for an entitlement to Parental Leave in respect of a child up to the age of 16 where that child has a disability or a serious illness.

These original and extended statutory minimum entitlements were negotiated by the social partners at European Level and implemented by Government in Ireland on foot of the subsequent EU Directives. The Directives create a minimum entitlement and there is nothing to prevent negotiations at workplace level between employers and employee representatives to expand these provisions by agreement. This is the reason for the different and augmented provisions in public sector employment, and indeed in certain private sector employment.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Partnership Government includes a commitment to increase paid leave for parents during the first year of a child’s life, as research shows that parental care is of particular importance during this time. The Government has established an interdepartmental working group to develop proposals to give effect to this commitment and I expect it to report towards the end of this month.

The Government’s commitment to introduce a paid parental leave entitlement is also in keeping with the policy approach put forward by the European Commission's proposal for a work-life balance directive. The key proposal in the Directive is that parental leave should be made available to parents on a paid basis, and it is currently under discussion at working group level.

The Deputy will also be aware that Deputies Roisin Shorthall and Catherine Murphy have proposed a Private Members Bill, entitled Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017, which provides for the extension of the existing entitlement to parental leave from 18 weeks leave to 26 weeks leave. The Government decided not to oppose this Bill at Second Stage, which took place on 8 February 2018.

I advised the House that I was available to discuss the proposal contained in the Bill with the sponsoring deputies. The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee on Justice and Equality and I have strongly suggested that the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality carry out a comprehensive legislative scrutiny on the Bill and on related issues in order to inform the debate and to allow interested stakeholders, groups and individuals to make submissions and to input to the legislative process.

I look forward to engaging in future discussions on the Bill in the context of the work that is ongoing in relation to expanding paid support to parents.

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