Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment proposes to delete section 3(b) of the Bill, which provides for a ten-week interval between periods of parental leave. As I said on Committee Stage, the effect of the amendment would be contrary to the parental leave working group's recommendation that parental leave may be taken in separate periods, each consisting of a minimum of six continuous weeks. The working group's recommendation resulted from a compromise agreement between employers and employees that offers employees greater flexibility when availing of their parental leave entitlement, while also considering the business needs of employers.

Section 3(b)(1A) implements the working group's recommended interval period between blocks of parental leave. Section 3(b)(1B) allows for a flexible approach to the ten-week interval by allowing employers and employees, or their representatives, to agree to a shorter interval if that suits the employee's circumstances and the employer's business needs.

The new provision in section 3(a)(ii) gives employees an entitlement to greater flexibility in the way their parental leave may be taken. It may suit some employees to take a period of parental leave of between six and eight weeks during the summer holidays. Section 3(a)(ii) entitles them to do so while retaining the right to take the rest of their leave at a later stage. If that provision were not in place, the employer could insist that the entire 14-week period be taken in one period or not at all. In agreeing to the new entitlement, employers sought an element of control over the length of the interval between periods of leave. The ten-week interval provided for in the Bill was agreed following the usual give and take on both sides. It would be wrong to deviate from it now.

I thank Senator Tuffy and her colleagues for raising this matter again. I am not prepared to accept the amendment, however, because the Bill's existing provisions reflect the intention of the working group in full. It includes a mechanism that gives greater flexibility to employees during the ten-week interval, if that suits employers and employees.