Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak to the Bill, which will give adoptive parents the same rights as every other couple who have a child, which I fully support. This is a move in the right direction at a time when so much negativity has been shown to mothers and babies in this country by the Government. Adoptive and single parents should get leave to experience the same joy of having a loving baby in their lives and the Bill will provide for this. While this country is slowly improving in respect of parents' rights, we are still laggards in comparison with other European countries and need urgently to look into how to make respectful changes.

The Bill digest states:

Ireland’s (family) parental leave policies, including Parent’s Leave, are influenced by the broader policy framework set out at EU level. Of particular importance here is European Council Directive 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers, adopted in April 2019. The Directive repeals Council Directive 2010/18/EU (discussed in the main body of the Digest) and provides, among other things, the following: ten working days of Paternity leave, paid at no less than the level of sick pay; two months of non-transferable (between parents), paid Parental leave; five days of annual carer’s leave; and, flexible working patterns.

A cross-country comparison of parental leave ... shows that in Ireland, there remains a substantial gap between the end of leave (including merging both paid and unpaid leave entitlements) and Early Childhood Education and Care entitlement. This is the case even given the levels of attendance at formal services for children under the age of three are in line with the average seen in EU Member States. To date in Ireland, research has shown that the uptake of all forms of parental leave, excepting Maternity Leave, has been mixed. From the research literature [assessed by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service], the challenges of taking parental leave (including paternity leave) relate in the main to the following: low compensation levels (difference between the rate paid for leave and an individual’s typical net income) act as a strong disincentive to taking leave; lack of flexibility in the timing of leave; ... and, eligibility criteria (e.g. employment length) ... Parental leave varies on four main dimensions in EU countries: length; whether it is an individual or family entitlement; payment; and flexibility ...

In Ireland, parental leave (unpaid) has a duration of 26 weeks, while Parent’s Leave has currently a duration of two weeks (paid), proposed to rise to five weeks under the provisions of the Bill. Leave is an individual entitlement that cannot be transferred. The one exception is when parents are employed by the same employer, in which case they can transfer a maximum of 14 weeks of their Parental leave entitlement to the other parent, subject to the employer’s agreement. Both parents can take this leave at the same time. It is not possible to transfer entitlement between parents currently under Parent’s Leave.

I agree with my colleague Deputy Mattie McGrath in respect of employers. Employers are suffering too and we have to take that into account. It is difficult for them to get the replacements for the periods people may be off work and there has to be a fair deal for them as well. It cannot just be one-way traffic all the time. Women in particular, as the ones who bear children, have suffered for a long time in this country. Stay-at-home mothers, under a Labour Party Bill a number of years ago, have suffered severely and this is an opportunity to put something right for these people. I will fully support the Bill.

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