Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

Striking a balance between work and family life is an important policy objective at national and European levels and was the intention behind the 1998 Act and this legislation. The impetus for the original legislation came from a 1996 EU directive, while the Bill before us arose from the Sustaining Progress review group on parental leave. I welcome certain provisions in this Bill, such as the increase in the age of eligible children from five to eight years, the extension of parental leave entitlements to persons acting in loco parentis and the opportunity to take parental leave in separate blocks. However, the Bill merits further examination on Committee Stage.

Even at this late stage, I make the case for paid parental leave. There is no doubt that our refusal to pay parental leave is out of line with many of our European partners and limits the take up of such leave, particularly among families on low incomes. During discussions on this matter by the review group, a number of parties including the Equality Authority, the National Women's Council of Ireland and the Irish Council of Trade Unions, recommended that the payment of parental leave be similar to maternal leave benefit. However IBEC claimed that the cost to industry of such a payment would be too high and argued that the payment would put pressure on the social insurance fund. It is odd that €635 million was taken from the fund by the then Minister for Finance in the year these discussions were held. Paid parental leave, the annual cost to the Exchequer of which was estimated annually at between €34 million and €78 million, could be easily covered by the social insurance fund. Even given that updated estimates will need to be made, the cost will not be huge. The issue should be re-visited while this Bill passes through the Oireachtas.

The issue of paid parental leave should be considered in the context of the general Government balance. I tabled a question to the Minister for Finance ten days ago asking him to indicate the general Government balance, in other words, the Government surplus, on revenue account for the past eight years. The Minister indicated in his reply that, on a cumulative basis, there was €39 billion of a Government surplus over those years. In 2004 alone, there a surplus of €6.7 billion.

I made the point previously, and I make it again, that those surpluses should be used to prioritise the provision of human services in the areas of health, education, housing and parental leave. The most important infrastructure a country has is its people. A well educated, well housed and healthy population is vital for future development in society. Those surplus balances are being used to build roads and bridges, in other words, for capital projects.

In any other modern western European country, it would be good economics and the norm for capital infrastructural projects to be funded through borrowing. It is in order for us to engage in prudent borrowing, the repayments on which we would be well able to meet and the normal EU rules in this regard with which we would be well able to comply. We could easily fund those capital projects from borrowing rather than from the Government surpluses we have had over recent years and will continue to have into the future. All that is lacking to provide for the payment for parental leave is the political will to do so. I ask the Minister of State to review this area and to deal with it on Committee Stage.

A number of areas are covered in the Bill, including the one to which I just referred, that need to be addressed. Echoing what Deputy Lynch said, it appears that none of the issues which were raised but not agreed by the review group has been brought forward in this legislation. The service requirement eligibility for parental leave is a year's service in the same employment. I had hoped that the service requirement would have been removed or that service in a number of employments would have been taken into consideration. That point was made previously by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Equality Authority and the National Women's Council of Ireland.

There is provision in the 1998 Act, and that provision remains unchanged under this Bill, whereby an employer can postpone parental leave. That provision should be changed. Most of the authorities, including State agencies, have indicated that they believe that should be the case. There are other anomalies in the legislation, namely, that an employer has the right to terminate parental leave, although the legislation states that it would be done after consultation with the employee. However, effectively, an employer can, on an arbitrary basis, terminate parental leave. That should not be possible. If this is proposed, the decision should be made by some independent agency such as a rights commissioner.

While I welcome the Bill it does not go far enough. It does not address the provision of payment for parental leave. I referred to the question of service requirement, an employer's right to terminate parental leave and that an employee cannot avail of parental leave twice in a 12-month period. Those areas need to be examined and dealt with on Committee Stage, and I look forward to that being done.

See this speech in context