Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge this is an extension of the status quoas such. By extending it from one year to two, the Minister is acknowledging that Covid has really up-ended everything and made things difficult. This leave is for early days of bonding. By moving it to two years, the Minister is acknowledging that families need that flexibility, not necessarily for that initial bonding time but that they can manage their family life.

We have had a year of Covid. We do not know how much longer this is going to be. We do not know for how much longer families will have to reorganise their schedules. We are not really sure what is going to happen in the coming months. As a sort of precautionary measure, it would be worthwhile to extend this further, even if it was only temporarily. To bring it from the two years to three years would be worthwhile and families would appreciate it.

Families need both unpaid and paid flexibility. The Minister referred to unpaid leave.

That was something the Social Democrats pushed in the previous term and while it was absolutely worthwhile, it was unpaid, which meant many families could not avail of it. The ideal is to have paid leave. I ask that the Minister bring in an extra bit of flexibility to go from two years to three. The difficulties caused by doing so do not outweigh the benefits families would obtain from it.

See this speech in context