Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

From July 2022, parent's leave and benefit will increase from five weeks to seven weeks. I and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, who has responsibility for policy in this area, will undertake to do a communications campaign at that time to make sure people are aware of it. This is an important support for parents and it is something we want people to take up. I am delighted there was such an increase in the numbers of people availing of the support in 2021. I hope that in 2022, that figure will grow further. Some 55,923 parents availed of the support in 2021, at a cost of over €50.8 million in total. That money is well spent because it gives parents the time to spend with their children.

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