Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 13:

In page 5, line 13, to delete "father" and substitute "parent".

I do not wish to go back over the whole debate again. All my amendments have had one agenda, which is to grant equal status to both adoptive parents when applying for the right to adoptive leave. I still do not accept the Minister's argument that either parent cannot avail of adoptive leave. I was willing to wait until the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004 was published, but it was not in that. I will not go over the whole issue again and I will not seek a vote, although I would love to do so all night. I feel it is discriminatory that both parents cannot avail of adoptive leave and cannot choose between either parent. We are not the experts on this, nor is the Minister. The experts are the parents, who should decide which parent avails of adoptive leave. It is a shame that in this day and age, we are not prepared to go that far. The Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004 does not deal with it, but gives leave for different reasons to all parents for their children up to the age of eight years. Adoptive leave should be additional to parental leave, and it is a pity the Minister of State cannot go some of the way towards addressing this.

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