Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that parent's leave has increased from two to nine weeks and it is a great support for parents, particularly when maternity leave is only 26 weeks and paternity leave at the moment is only two weeks. Despite all of that, regarding the one-parent family, if a baby is born into a one-parent family and the other parent is deceased, for example, there will be nine additional weeks; but for a baby born into a two-parent family there will be 18 weeks. That is not fair and we should have equality on this. It would be for a very small number of babies but regardless of the parent-family make-up, whether one- or two-parent, the entitlement for the baby should be the same. At this point, one-parent families are losing out on nine weeks. The partner may have passed away. It is important to have the equal entitlement whether it is a one- or two-parent family. I know this came from Europe, more or less, but could it be looked at?

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