Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the leave is currently designed, it has to be taken within the first year of the child's birth. My proposal is that this can be taken in the first two years. Deputy Whitmore's alternative is the first three years. I suppose we are trying to achieve a balance.

The core reason we are bringing it out to two years is that acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by families and by new parents during the Covid crisis. It is an acknowledgement of the inability to access those familial, as well as wider societal, supports that have not been available or accessible because of closures, restrictions or not being able to travel.

The core reasoning behind parental leave is to allow each parent to spend more time with the child in that crucial early period after birth. That is why when the leave was first introduced, it was designated to be taken within that first year period. It was to provide an enhancement for mothers beyond maternity leave and for fathers beyond paternity leave.

We are extending that out to two years. It broadens it out but it is not quite as tight. It still recognises those essential two years. The core reasoning behind this is to take account of what has happened over the past year. It is our stance that taking it out to three years takes us well beyond that early year period and well beyond what the core of the directive is trying to achieve, namely, to ensure mothers and fathers have time to bond with their children, particularly in those crucial early weeks and months. It is the absence of that time to bond which has led to the change in the directive from a previous version where the transferability of leave had been reduced and less leave could be transferred from the mother to the father. That was discussed earlier. Not enough fathers were taking up this particular leave.

The secondary goal behind this particular leave is to promote and facilitate the reintegration of mothers into the labour market after they have taken up their period of maternity leave. That is set out clearly in recital 20 of the directive. To bring this out to three years would move us further away from that crunch point following the end of maternity leave.

We have leave provisions that stretch out longer such as parental leave. I accept that is an unpaid form of leave but it stretches out for a much wider period to provide flexibility for both parents.

With this measure, we are providing a paid support for parents to be in a position to bond with and support their child in the initial period after birth. We have taken the decision to elongate that to two years. That is very much on the basis of what has happened this year and an acknowledgement of that. It is our sense that two years is the ideal number in this particular circumstance.

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