Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004. Child care and parental entitlements are a live issue. We saw the report in the Irish Examiner yesterday indicating the concern of people throughout the country about appropriate and adequate child care provisions which would allow some support for the long-suffering parent in the workplace in particular, but also for the long-suffering parent in the home who gets little consideration for the time and effort given on an unpaid basis in rearing children.

An integral part of providing a service is to give rights, entitlements and leave to parents to provide a structure and an ethos whereby we have a parent-friendly workplace. It is amazing that it has taken us so long to even consider that people must rear and educate their children at the same time as they must work at a steady 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, and that provisions have not been made. The only way we dealt with the issue in the past was by telling people in the public service and Civil Service that the spouse had to leave the workplace. That was a harsh, uncaring approach, but at least it had the benefit of recognising that children required a lot of caring, and that at least one parent needed to be with children all the time. That parent was of course the mother, and the legislation referred only to the mother. It was only mothers who had to give up their careers in the Civil Service.

Though we have abolished that system, we have not come very far in providing an adequate response so that both parents can remain in the workplace and at the same time contribute meaningfully to the rearing of their children. I say meaningfully because it is not just in the interests of the parents to have reasonable conditions under which they can get time off or leave from work to be with their children. It is in the interests of the State. Good parenting makes for good citizenship. If children are neglected and do not have the warmth, bonding and attachment of their parents at an early stage, there is a danger of them becoming easily dysfunctional and of their ability to cope as good citizens being seriously weakened. The State has a strong role in this area.

I welcome the legislation. It arises from an agreement under the Sustaining Progress social partnership pact 2003-05. I note that the mid-term review in 2004 committed the Government to having the legislation enacted before summer of this year. That deadline has clearly been missed. The Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, who debated this Bill in the Seanad during the previous term, was confident that a deadline of last summer would be met. That was a number of months ago and, because the deadline was not met, we are attempting to bring the legislation through this House before Christmas.

The provisions of the Bill have been well rehearsed in terms of the increase in the age of eligibility age from five to eight, or 16 in the case of children with disabilities, and the extension of parental leave to persons acting in loco parentis, relatives and separated people. The entitlement to take 14 weeks parental leave in separate blocks of a minimum of six weeks each provides a better way to address this issue. Sick parents may postpone parental leave for the duration of their illness. The strengthened protections on the right to return to work are important, as are safeguards for employees who are parents against penalties arising from taking parental leave. It is easy for parents to be penalised upon their return to the workplace. The Bill also provides for a statutory code of practice on parental leave. These measures are all desirable.

This legislation was negotiated under the Sustaining Progress social partnership of 2003 to 2005. It is a shame these entitlements, which do not present significant costs to the Exchequer, were not introduced earlier. While the negotiators might have believed that further entitlements would not be granted, the provisions as they stand are far from what is needed. I imagine that the next social partnership process — the establishment of which appears to be in rocky waters because of the Irish Ferries debacle — will seek many more concessions in the area of parental entitlements and child care. The absence of paid parental leave is a critical issue and is often remarked upon. Parental leave has to be taken at one's own cost and does not entail genuine entitlements.

This Bill amends the Parental Leave Act 1998, which in turn implemented the parental leave directive adopted in 1996. The provisions are an enhancement over previous legislation and give greater flexibility to parents or those who are in loco parentis. The purpose of the Bill is to facilitate working parents to spend more time with their children and to assist bonding amongst them. It is extremely important from that point of view. It is also more parent centred. The original Act was employer centred.

The Bill strengthens protections on the right to return to work. A parent is now entitled to return to the same job and control of employment on terms no less favourable than when he or she left work. These conditions apply equally to maternity and adoptive leave. Clearly, a parent who bears the responsibility of bearing and raising children and supporting them financially should not be penalised by dismissal, unfair treatment or unfavourable changes in conditions of employment for exercising the entitlement to parental leave.

Policing of the legislation under the statutory code of practice prepared by The Equality Authority is probably the most welcome provision. I fear a situation where somebody who takes full parental leave is made subject to a diminution of entitlements upon his or her return to work. It is important that people do not suffer in that way.

A glaring omission in terms of this legislation is the absence of provision for paid parental leave. This issue arose when the 1998 legislation was debated. I do not know whether progress has been made on this issue, although I am sure the Minister of State has words of wisdom for us on the negotiations he has conducted——

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