Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Deputy Keaveney.

I welcome the Bill before us today. We in Dáil Éireann should be more aware than anyone that our society is changing and new issues and values are emerging every day. It is our job as legislators to ensure that we produce the best possible response to these changes and leave behind us a legacy of which we can all be proud. There is no need for me to elaborate on the fact that Ireland has changed immeasurably over the past decade or so. We have had to anticipate these changes and challenges to the best of our ability and proceed accordingly.

Parental leave legislation can be viewed within this context of change. The family unit is less strictly defined now than in the past and social patterns have changed so that the husband or father is no longer per se the household breadwinner. An increasing number of women are entering the workforce. Their right to work must be both adequately recognised in law and reconciled with their role as potential mothers. In 1976, there were 266,000 women in the workplace and, last year, there were more than 500,000. Females now out-number males in Ireland, 49% of who work. Figures like this cannot be ignored, especially by a Government committed to equality, as this one is. I am pleased, therefore, that we are taking another step forward in the reconciliation of work and family life and the promotion of equal opportunities between men and women.

The original Parental Leave Act 1998 represented a new departure in the recognition of both parents' right to work while simultaneously raising a family. The EU directive of 1996, from which it was conceived, leaves member states a great deal of freedom in how they wish to see it implemented. In 1998, when the original Act was being formulated and debated, the two main issues in Ireland were the age limit of the child set within the Bill and whether parental leave would be paid. Today we find ourselves readdressing one of these issues. If the Bill passes through the House, as I am sure it will, a parent will have the right to take leave at any stage up to their child's eighth birthday. This means Ireland will be able to count itself among the select group of member states to have approved the maximum age limit of an eligible child as set down in the original EU directive.

Many might argue, and did so in 1998 when the original Parental Leave Act was being debated, that this maximum limit should have been set from the beginning. At the time, the EU directive on parental leave was adopted, Ireland, along with Luxembourg and the UK, were the only EU member states that did not already have some kind of statutory parental leave. This in many ways puts us in an enviable position. We were starting with a fresh canvass, enabling us to put in place a brand new scheme specifically designed for Ireland's needs heading into the 21st century.

Perhaps when embarking on this project in 1998, we should have had the foresight and courage to legislate for the maximum age limit. However, the argument that five years was an appropriate age limit, given the fact that most children have started school by then, seemed entirely appropriate at the time. That we are now set to readjust that age limit should not be berated, but praised. Anyone who has spent time studying the issue will know that no two member states have the same arrangements for parental leave, whether it is Sweden, Germany or Britain. Each has developed a model to suit the needs of its own society.

A working group established here in 2001 to review the operation of the 1998 Act found that an extension of the upper age limit would benefit children in the formative years from four to eight, and their parents who find that the greatest difficulties balancing work and child care responsibilities occur when their child is of schoolgoing age. We are addressing this issue now. This process of review and amendment is crucial to our role in catering for the needs of the population.

The other question that arose in 1998 that will surely come into contention again during the debate on this Bill is whether parental leave should be paid. The 2001 working group failed to reach a consensus on this, therefore, parental leave will remain unpaid. It is obvious to me why this decision has attracted criticism. At the same time, equally convincing is the argument of those representing employers opposing paid parental leave. Employers cannot be expected to pay for two employees to carry out one job, which is effectively what they would do in drafting in a temporary replacement while funding another person's leave.

I spoke earlier about the need for progressive legislation. Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Denmark are renowned for their liberal social welfare structure. They have put in place parental leave, with some form of payment. However, their governments tax heavily to provide for this and to support their social welfare policy. The issue of paid parental leave is difficult to cut through. While I fully understand why it is not being implemented here, I sincerely hope those who contributed to the 2001 working group, particularly the Departments, will continue to grapple with the problem of how to provide financial assistance for those who wish to take parental leave. We should continue to debate this issue and I look forward to further revisions of the Parental Leave Act 1998. We will only be able to improve our system and provide citizens with the best service through review and readjustment.

Child care is inextricably linked to this provision. While parental leave is an excellent scheme, child care has a much larger part to play in a child's upbringing. As with housing, for example, the realisation that the pace needed to be stepped up in the provision of child care options dawned late in the day. In 1997, under Partnership 2000, an expert working group on child care was established because changed economic and social conditions and expectations had resulted in more women opting to combine work and family life at a time when the availability of child minders and places in child care centres was contracting. Our economy requires a labour force and, therefore, women who wish to enter the labour market should be facilitated. Insufficient and expensive child care is detrimental to this aim.

The Partnership 2000 working group, in a report published in June 2005, found a significant increase in the provision of early or pre-school child care places in recent years. This should be welcomed and highly commended. However, the same report concluded there had not been a parallel increase in the provision of places to cater for the child care needs of schoolgoing children outside of school hours.

The legislation extends the upper age limit of children eligible under the Parental Leave Act 1998 in recognition of the difficulties faced by parents balancing family and work responsibilities once their children have reached schoolgoing age. We are faced with a disparity in our approach to child care. The provision of out of school child care needs to be increased to accommodate parents whose working day does not fit the school timetable.

The school age child care recommended by the June 2005 report is what the country is lacking but also what it needs. The legislation will give parents further flexibility in their decisions to take parental leave but a well planned system of school age child care services will give them flexibility when they need it in their day-to-day working lives. School age child care has been widely provided throughout mainland Europe for many years. Our neighbours in the United Kingdom have concentrated their efforts in this field and their provision has expanded considerably over the past few years.

While the form of provision varies, Ireland is one of the few member states in which it is a relatively new concept and this can be used to our advantage. It gives us the opportunity to formulate a first class range of facilities to suit the needs of Ireland's working parents. There should be no temptation to adopt stop gap or short-term measures to deal with this challenge. This will not work and will not satisfy parents. We need not only to address the current scenario but also to anticipate the future and act accordingly.

I welcome recent statements by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs regarding child benefit. I welcome the legislation but I hope, following this Bill's enactment, further action will be taken in the child care sphere, which, one day, will make us the envy of countries, not only in Europe but throughout the globe.

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