Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Parents are at their wits' end trying to juggle work and childcare during the lockdown, with no support from the State. They are expected to double job, to hold down their regular work while also home schooling. Many are simply not able to do that. They have run through their annual leave already. They are being told by the Department to leave their job and go on the PUP. Other countries in Europe have brought in new entitlements to paid childcare leave from work to deal with the situation. Does the Minister not agree that it is about time we did the same? Germany, for example, has just introduced an extra ten days' paid leave per parent to enable them to mind children at home because of Covid measures such as school closures, illness or self-isolation. Austria, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia have also all introduced paid leave for parents with children. In France, parents affected by school closures or a child having to self-isolate are entitled to paid sick leave from work, yet here parents were told by the Department in a tweet this month:

Workers affected by a lack of childcare should engage with their employer with a view to exploring all options available to enable them to return to, or continue with, work where possible

Where there are no options possible they are eligible to apply for the PUP.

Once again, it is women who are hardest hit by this, shouldering the bulk of the childcare work and suffering the greatest job losses. During the first lockdown last year women were disproportionately affected by job losses and right now we have a higher rate of unemployment of women than men for the first time in many years. What is the Minister doing to help parents, especially mothers, remain in the workforce and to assist them with their additional childcare responsibilities during Covid? Will she give parents a break and introduce a special Covid parental or childcare benefit like in Germany and other EU countries?

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