Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

This is in addition to the existing 14 weeks' unpaid parental leave. In total, parents will be entitled to 56 weeks between paid and unpaid leave by 2007.

Early child care supplement

The increase in maternity leave and the additional measures I have just announced to improve supply will take time to have their full impact. In the meantime, working parents continue to need additional support to meet the cost of child care. It is only fair at this point to recall the huge investment which this Government has made over recent years in terms of direct financial support for families. This year, we will spend almost €2 billion on child benefit alone. This compares with a quarter of that amount five years ago. During that time child benefit rates have increased substantially to the point where, as I mentioned earlier, more than 1 million children in more than half a million families will next year receive monthly payments of €150 or €185.

There has also been a radical change in the personal tax system which has seen the tax burden on families significantly reduced across the board. To take just one example, a married two earner couple with a combined income of €60,000 per annum will pay, on average, just 11%, or €1 in €9, of their gross income in tax in 2005, which is down from more than €1 in €4 on the same amount in 1999. That is an annual saving of more than €10,000.

However, notwithstanding these very significant improvements in income, the Government acknowledges the continuing cost pressures on parents, especially those with young children, for whom I am today providing some additional financial support. I have had the benefit of examining a wide range of different views and proposals but it is clear that a broad consensus is hard to find.

Having looked in depth at all the issues, I have decided that the most effective response lies in introducing a new early child care supplement. This will be a direct payment of €1,000 per year available equally to all parents regardless of their labour force status for each child up to his or her sixth birthday.

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