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

One of the key reasons we made parents' leave non-transferable between the two parents was because there is that societal pressure where, if you can transfer it, in a lot of situations dad's time would have gone to mam and that would have been the end of the conversation. We felt it was important to encourage dads in every way possible to spend that very valuable and potentially now 11 weeks' paid leave with their child in those initial two years.

That is important.

I also echo what the Deputy said about valuing the care economy. One of the things I have been focused on in another part of my Department, the early years section, is improving pay for childcare professionals. Following State investment through core funding in 2022, we saw the first ever pay agreement for childcare professionals. As a result of that, 73% of childcare professionals saw a pay increase and I hope in the next few weeks we will see a second pay deal or employment regulation order, ERO, again securing a 5% increase for childcare professionals.

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