Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Two working groups of the social partners established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness examined this issue in reviewing the Parental Leave Act 1998, the report of the working group on the review of the improvement of the maternity protection legislation of 2001 and considered a proposal from the ICTU, the Equality Authority and the National Women's Council of Ireland that legislation should provide for a five-day paid paternity leave on the birth of the child, to be paid on the same basis as maternity benefit. The proposal was discussed and the following issues taken into account: the comparative situation in other EU member states, force majeure on paternity leave, reconciliation of work and family life, the balanced participation of men and women in work and family life, and the cost to employers. Both working groups stated that they recognised the importance of the role of fathers at the time of and immediately after the birth of the child. They could not, however, reach a consensus on the proposal and no recommendation was received for it to be progressed. That happened a couple of years ago and the discussion has probably advanced since then.

This section increases the length of time by four weeks and brings in a weekly earnings threshold of €350 and a new payment rate of €280 per week for maternity and adoptive benefits. I have a list of paternity leave benefits in other EU countries. In many countries some of the maternity leave is transferred to the father. For example, in Denmark the last ten weeks of the mother's leave may be transferred.