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

I thank the Deputy. There have been significant developments in the entitlements to family leaves and working family payments in recent years. The Government committed in the programme for Government to supporting parents, including by extending paid leave for parents to allow them to spend more time with their baby during the first year.

Under the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019, working parents are entitled to nine weeks of paid parent's leave for each relevant parent, to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child, as required by the work-life balance directive. It was two weeks per parent per child when I became Minister, and it is now nine weeks.

It is important to note that the entitlement under the 2019 Act is for each parent in his or her own right so it is not allocated per family. The Act was drafted to take account of the broad complexion of family life, including one-parent families, and allows for an entitlement for the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the parent. Parents do not have to cohabit to be eligible for the entitlement. However, the leave is not transferable to ensure that fathers as well as mothers are supported in their caring roles and to support women's equal labour market participation. That principle of non-transferability that was built into the work-life balance directive is required because of the importance of ensuring that the provision of family leave does not serve to disadvantage mothers participating in the workforce.

The Government is also very aware of the additional challenges faced by one-parent families and their greater risk of poverty. To the extent that the matter falls within my Department, I have always committed to working with colleagues to support one-parent families through the development of enhanced, targeted supports. For example, the national childcare scheme includes an income-related subsidy, alongside the universal subsidy, which aims to make childcare more affordable for low-income families, including lone-parent families. An independent review of NCS in 2021 indicated that single parents received greatest benefit from the scheme as they received the highest subsidies.

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