With regard to parental leave, a working group, which comprised representatives of the social partners, certain Departments and the Equality Authority, was set up in accordance with a requirement of the Parental Leave Act, 1998, to conduct a review of its operation within three years. The requirement was also incorporated as a commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The report of the working group was published in April 2002. The group identified 18 issues for consideration in the course of the review and made a series of recommendations in relation to some of these issues. One of the ten recommendations agreed by the group is that a workable legal formula should be developed to extend parental leave entitlement to persons acting in loco parentis. This would include persons who actively parent but are neither natural nor adoptive parents. This recommendation along with the others made by the working group is currently being examined by my Department with a view to bringing forward legislative proposals to Government.