Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The Parental Leave Act 1998 provides an individual and non-transferable entitlement to each parent to 14 weeks unpaid leave from work per child to take care of young children. This is consistent with the provisions of the EU parental leave directive, which gives legal effect to the framework agreement on parental leave agreed by the social partners at EU level. Section 2(2) of the agreement, which is an annexe to the directive, states "to promote equal opportunities and equal treatment between men and women, the parties to this agreement consider that the right to parental leave provided for under clause 2.1 should, in principle, be granted on a non-transferable basis". The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform sought legal advice on the question of transferring the parental leave entitlement during the review of the Parental Leave Act 1998. It was advised that the leave may not be transferred. In that context, it would be pointless to provide in the Bill that an annual statement on this issue should be issued. Consequently, I cannot accept the amendment.