Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that the public health emergency has caused significant hardship and stress across our population, not least for parents and children, and acknowledges the issues raised by the #ExtendMaternityLeave2020 campaign established by mothers currently on maternity leave and by the National Women's Council of Ireland's support of the campaign;

recognises that support for families, as we begin to reopen, is of paramount importance and welcomes the:

— financial supports for those experiencing job insecurity in the form of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment;

— support for employers in maintaining their staffing through the Temporary Wage Subsistence Scheme; and

— reopening of childcare which has relieved many parents of the burden of childcare while trying to work;

acknowledges the many advances made in enabling work-life balance for parents in recent years, including the:

— introduction of two weeks' paid parent's leave for each parent;

— extension of unpaid parental leave from 18 to 22 working weeks in September 2019 and extending to 26 working weeks from September 2020; and

— introduction of two weeks' Paternity Benefit in 2016; and

welcomes the fact that the Government proposes to examine in early course, as part of the budgetary process:

— the possible extension of paid parent’s leave and Parent’s Benefit from two to five weeks (constituting an additional three weeks per parent); and

— the possible extension of the period in which parent’s leave can be taken by the cohort eligible until November 2021.

It is entirely understandable that new mothers are seeking an extension of maternity leave and benefit due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These have been an extremely strange and stressful few months for all of us and I have no doubt that being at home with a new baby without the usual support systems must have been and continues to be extremely challenging for people. Not having grandparents, siblings and friends around to share the joy and the work of minding a newborn is difficult and I think everyone in the House will recognise this.

The Government is acutely aware that many families have suffered during the pandemic, and that social distancing is particularly hard when one is caring for a young child or children and one has to be cautious about every social interaction. Having said that, the Government is of the view that a temporary enhanced entitlement to maternity benefit is not the appropriate course of action. This is not about money. The change being sought is complex from a legal perspective. It is not as simple as is being suggested. Adopting the proposed measure would require me, as Minister for Justice and Equality, to bring forward primary legislation to amend the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 to 2004, in order to provide that women who had already started or completed their maternity period would be entitled to take a further 13 weeks' leave. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection would also be required to amend the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, to provide for the associated payment of maternity benefit at €245 per week for the period of any extension.

The amendment would require legislation to have a retrospective effect. Retrospective legislation, as the House will be aware, is extremely rare and can raise constitutional issues. In addition, there may be legal difficulties in identifying the relevant cohort to which the amendment would apply. There are also practical considerations for how such an extension would be implemented in circumstances where some mothers may have already returned to the workplace or who are intending to return in the very near future.

An extension to maternity leave, while benefiting a small number of people, would also impact on others, most obviously employers who are already struggling with the impact of Covid-19 on their workplaces and other employees who may have had to manage complex childcare arrangements during the past three months, as many in this House will have done. Any time we introduce a change in the mandatory leave arrangements for employees, we have to consider these impacts and we have to try and achieve the right balance between home life and work life. That is all the more important now given the extraordinary changes to working arrangements that the whole country has undergone. It would not be a responsible act for me, as Minister, to add a significant additional element to the challenges that business managers and, in particular, employees of SMEs are facing to resume their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are businesses struggling to stay open and keep their employees healthy and working. These issues that they are likely to face have been raised with me, as have the concerns by many mothers. They are concerned about the additional burden this proposal would place on the businesses and on their employees and we must look at both.

That said, this Government is firmly committed to enhancing the time that parents can spend with their new children but we want to do so in a way that the benefits, and any resulting burdens, are spread widely and equitably between mothers and fathers and do not come as an unexpected additional burden to our key SME sector. The Government is proposing to advance the extension of parent's leave and benefit to five weeks for all parents of children born on after 1 November 2019 as an alternative to the temporary targeted extension of maternity leave and benefit. The proposal will enable all eligible parents to spend additional time with their young children in the future. I am sure Deputies will agree that this is a more desirable outcome than a reform limited to a specific group and a specific time.

Parent's leave and benefit were introduced on 1 November 2019 with the commencement of the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019. This Act allows for a possible extension of the period of parent's leave and benefit. An order can be made by the Minister for Justice and Equality to provide for an extension of parent's leave. This can be done with the consent of the Ministers for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Public Expenditure and Reform. The making of such an order requires prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. In addition to leave for parents that is already in place - such as maternity and paternity leave - the Act provides an individual entitlement for each parent for a child born or adopted on or after 1 November 2019.

The parent's leave entitlement is currently two weeks' leave for each parent to be taken within 52 weeks of the birth or placement of the child. Parents may also be entitled to parent's benefit which is paid at €245 per week for two weeks. This is the same rate as maternity benefit. An extension of parent's leave and benefit will have a positive impact on family life. Evidence shows that children benefit from being cared for and spending time with both parents, particularly when they are young. Parent's leave provides fathers as well as mothers with an opportunity to participate in the care of their child at this young age.

Given that paid parent's leave cannot be shared between parents, an increase from two weeks to five weeks provides, in effect, an additional six weeks per family.

We also intend to extend the period in which the leave can be taken. This will allow the leave to be taken in the first two years of a child's life rather than the first 52 weeks, as is the case at present. These changes will apply to all new parents once the reforms are approved and the parents of children born during the pandemic will be eligible to take the leave at the same time as all other parents once the 2021 budget process is completed in November. This would not have happened without the changes we are proposing. The proposals contained in the amendment will be considered as part of the 2021 budget process and will come into force thereafter.

I understand the difficulties and I have spoken to many parents. While the measures we intend to introduce in the budget will not fully deliver what has been asked for, they will go some way towards helping not only a specific set of parents, but all parents in the coming weeks, months and years. I commend the amendment to the House.

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