Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

This brings the total amount of paid maternity leave to 26 weeks. Unpaid leave is also being increased by four weeks, to 16 weeks. With the changes in maternity benefit I announced earlier, these changes will help to ease the burden on working families.

Another key element of the child care strategy was the introduction of the early child care supplement of €250 per quarter for all children under six years. This benefits more than 280,000 families. This year, I have provided an additional €100 million to cover the full-year cost of the payment, bringing the funding for this payment to almost €400 million in 2007. I am also allocating €1 million per year on an ongoing basis to support young parents through the teen parent support programme.

The early child care supplement, together with increased child benefit payments, means that families with two children aged under six years will receive direct, tax free payments of €5,780 in 2007.

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