Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. On a further point of clarification, let us say somebody is due to return from maternity leave at the start of December and their child is not two years old yet, are they able to take that additional leave sometime next year or is that not an option? While that would be welcome, it can be difficult for many people to try to organise childcare and also try to organise their own job, depending on what job they do. Many people will take some unpaid leave and some parental leave because to take it all together, in reality, is the best way for people to organise this. It can be difficult, if they have a childcare place, to dip out of that childcare place for a number of weeks of parental leave, and that is why people tend to try to take it together in a block. Is the Minister saying that if somebody started back to work on 1 December and their child is one year old, they can take that in the next year?

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