David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Shortall's proposal to extend the qualifying age from eight years to 12 years. The Government will not oppose the amendment and in fact supports it.

I mentioned earlier that the Government intends to bring amendments forward on Report Stage, and this is one that we had prepared. We are in sync with the Deputy on that one.

As every member of the committee will accept, families are best placed to determine what works for them and what supports they need. I am sure that every member of the committee and the Houses will agree that as legislators and policymakers we have to listen to the needs of families, take on board their concerns and then figure out how we can best ensure that the necessary supports are in place. In this context, the Government and my Department have received a number of representations from families asking for parental leave to be available in respect of children up to the age of 12. Second, this is one of the foremost issues addressed in parliamentary questions on parental leave, so colleagues on all sides of the House have been tabling this.

Increasing the qualifying age from eight to 12 is one of those issues where families know what they need. It provides families with greater flexibility to determine what is best for them and what works for them. Indeed, this is the type of measure that is easy to support. Second, the Deputy's amendment and the Government's intended amendment would resolve another issue concerning the age of children and parental leave. As we are all aware, section 6 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 provides for 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave in respect of a child up to the age of eight years, or 16 years in the case of a child with a serious illness or disability.

The age provided for in the Act is a statutory minimum. It is at the discretion of individual employers whether they wish to extend the eligibility criteria for their employers to avail of parental leave beyond that minimum. At present, the majority of companies in the private sector only permit parental leave to be taken up to the statutory requirement of eight years, whereas in the public sector it can be taken in respect of children up to the age of 13. Therefore, the secondary effect of this amendment would be to produce an approximate parity between the two sectors.