Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

Several Deputies have called for the introduction of paid parental leave which the Bill does not provide for. Those of us who are parents would be instinctively inclined towards maximising the amount of parental leave available and having it paid at the highest possible rate. In reality, a balance must be struck when enhancing employment rights which have a consequent impact on the cost of labour, productivity and competitiveness.

The issue of payment was debated in depth in the partnership process but a consensus could not be reached on paid parental leave. The working group report outlined a number of payment options and costed some of these for the Exchequer. Extrapolating one of these options to the present day gives a rough estimate of cost to the Exchequer of somewhere in the region of €200 million per annum. This estimate is based on the qualifying criteria for the maternity benefit scheme, with an equivalent payment, and takes into account both the cost to the social insurance fund and public sector employer costs.

I should also caution that this estimate assumes a high uptake of parental leave by women and a much lower uptake rate for men on the basis that, even in other countries where a social welfare type payment is available, men generally do not take parental leave in great numbers.

Deputy English suggested raising the upper age limit of an eligible child to 12 or to the age a child leaves primary school. The directive stipulates an upper age of eight and the Bill matches this, except in the case of children with disabilities where the limit is 16. The upper limit of eight years was sought by ICTU and the National Women's Council of Ireland, and the Government and employers agreed this in the course of negotiations for Sustaining Progress. In the Civil Service, the State as an employer has already implemented the higher age limit of eight after discussions with the unions rather than awaiting the enactment of the Bill. This was done incrementally. Initially the upper age limit was raised to six and perhaps this is the origin of Deputy English's question on age limits.

In response to further points made by Deputy English, I confirm that both parents are already entitled to parental leave under the Parental Leave Act 1998, which is entirely unambiguous on this entitlement. All employees who have eligible children qualify for 14 weeks parental leave in their own right. The information material published by the Equality Authority, for example, is crystal clear on this. Information and promotional material produced by unions and employer groups also make this clear.

On a related awareness point, the Parental Leave Act contains strong provisions protecting the jobs and employment conditions of employees who take parental leave. Again, a wealth of information is available to employees about this matter and the Equality Authority periodically promotes awareness through publicity and events like the annual national work-life balance day. The working group which reviewed the 1998 Act commissioned an attitudinal survey on parental leave entitlements which found that employee awareness was high at close to 90% of those surveyed. Further details on this survey are included in the 2002 report of the working group which is available on the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform website and in the Oireachtas Library.

Several Deputies asked about the absence of a statutory entitlement to paternity leave. In the public sector, employers provide three days paid paternity leave to civil servants, teachers, health service workers, gardaí, prison officers and members of the Defence Forces. While also under no statutory obligation to do so, many private sector employers provide a short period of paternity leave without deducting pay.

In the course of their deliberations on paternity leave, the cost implications for employers, both in terms of the absence of the father from the workplace and the monetary cost arising in the event of such leave being paid by employers, were considered by the review group. Concern was expressed over the adoption of any new measure which would result in increased costs for employers in view of the economic climate at that time and the need to maintain international competitiveness. It was counter argued that fathers should have a legal right to paternity leave and that such leave should attract payment. A statutory arrangement to allow for a father's entitlement to leave around the time of childbirth would enhance arrangements for the reconciliation of work and family life. However, in the absence of agreement with the social partners on the issue of paternity leave, the Bill makes no provision for an entitlement to paternity leave paid or otherwise.

The option open to employers to postpone parental leave was questioned by Deputy Healy. The legislation would be unworkable if an employee could unilaterally decide when to take parental leave without having to pay any regard to the needs of the workplace. The provisions of section 11 of the Act are balanced however, in that the employer can exercise the option to postpone parental leave only for objective operational reasons or in the event of a crisis in the workplace and following consultation with the employee. Furthermore the employer has only a narrow timeframe within which he must act to seek to postpone the leave.

Deputies Lynch and Morgan called for employees to have the right to request more flexibility in the manner parental leave might be taken. Many employees are already able to avail of their parental leave entitlement in a "broken" format such as blocks of weeks, days or hours as a result of reaching agreement with their employer. The 1998 Act provides for this in section 7. I would expect that issues like this pertaining to the detailed application of the provisions of the Act will be addressed in the context of the development of a statutory code of practice as provided for in section 10.

I refute some Deputies' comments that the Government's policy on children and child care lacks coherence. Ireland is one of the few countries in the world with a ten-year plan to improve the lives of all children. The national children's strategy which dates from 2000 is rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is an interdepartmental response to improving children's lives and was developed with the expert assistance of NGOs and academics. The National Children's Office is a Government agency, established to support the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, to drive implementation of the strategy and to ensure better co-ordination of services for children.

An essential element of this Government's policy on children is the equal opportunities childcare programme. One of the key findings of a recent survey conducted by the ESRI for the forum on the workplace for the future is that access to affordable, good quality child care and family-friendly work practices is now a critical aspect of Ireland's labour force management capability. The Government is committed to fulfilling its responsibilities towards meeting this challenge. This includes increasing the supply of quality child care available to parents and to do so in a way that gives them the greatest choice. When we first came into office, there was a serious shortage of such places. We set ourselves the task of addressing the matter, through the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006.

The programme is substantial and its scale demonstrates that this is the first Government to recognise the need for the State to act in this area in a meaningful way. Centre-based child care is just one part of the equation and the Government supports parental choice, the choice to use centre-based child care, childminding, part-time child care, or child care by family members. This has been facilitated by increasing the levels of income support for all parents, regardless of the care choices they make for their children, through record increases in child benefit.

Working parents are well supported through our taxation and child benefit system. This is borne out by the findings of a recently published OECD report, Taxing Wages 2003/2004, which found that the taxation rate of Irish workers is one of the lowest in OECD countries. The report, which looks at personal income tax and social security contributions in OECD countries in 2004, found that of the 30 countries surveyed, a married one-earner couple with two children in Ireland received more money in cash transfers from the State than they paid out in income tax and social security contributions. I understand that only Luxembourg is in the same league as Ireland in this respect. The Government is now actively considering a range of options to make further improvements to assist parents to manage their work and family commitments. I am confident the upcoming budget will contain several initiatives in this area.

Another conclusion from the recent ESRI survey for the forum on the workplace of the future was that:

Work/life balance arrangements in the workplace and parental leave arrangements are an important aspect of choice in relation to caring for children. More workplaces need to implement flexible arrangements and develop a supporting management culture that ensures that those who avail of these arrangements are not disadvantaged in terms of their career advancement prospects.

The Government is committed to playing a full role in helping employees to balance their work and family responsibilities and I urge all employers to play their part as well. Statutory provision is just one part of the equation. Employers too must take some share of the responsibility for ensuring that working parents can better reconcile the pressures of family and work commitments. Flexibility in working arrangements is the key. Many of our most successful enterprises have thrived in fiercely competitive markets while simultaneously affording generous flexibility to their employees in how they manage their work commitments.

Deputy Ryan proposes the European social model as the way forward while several other Deputies mock partnership as catering solely for the needs of business. These arguments fly in the face of reality. The economy has been transformed to one with an enviable fiscal position, close to full employment, rising living standards and low personal taxation. This is due in large part to this Government's rejection of the European social model which is characterised by stifling high taxation. Partnership has also played no small part in our economic success through a process of dialogue, consensus and compromise. The Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill has emerged from this process and should be viewed as a step forward acceptable to both sides of industry.

The Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Fahey, looks forward to more detailed analysis of the Bill on Committee Stage. I commend the Bill to the House.

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