Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, with us this evening. I welcome the introduction of this Bill into the Upper House. The Bill is focused on supporting families and allowing parents to spend more time with their children. It is very positive. It is important that we ensure that there are a number of options available to families in terms of spending time with their children and easing the burden of the cost of childcare. This Bill seeks to extend the entitlement to unpaid leave from 18 to 26 weeks. During the course of my involvement in politics I have spoken to many parents who have thought about or who have given up their jobs entirely to care for their children. This is an option for some people, but is not an option for everybody. An array of options to support families is important, because every family situation will be different.

The Government's primary focus is on the extension of paid parental leave, and I know the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, has made initial steps towards achieving this goal with the introduction of a further two weeks of paid parental leave for each parent in budget 2019 which will come into effect in November next year. Senator Coffey has mentioned paid paternity benefit, which has proven effective and seeks to support fathers. In Roscommon, my own region, 213 fathers benefitted from paternity benefit this year, along with 1,133 fathers in Galway. Those measures are important. Furthermore, Ireland is a member of the Council of Europe and I am aware that work is being undertaken at the moment on the work-life balance directive. Those discussions are ongoing. Reference has been made to other countries and how they conduct their business in terms of supporting families. A large amount of work is being done. The core aim of this is to ensure that we have a suite of options to support families. I am pleased that this Bill will proceed to Committee Stage. We have to ensure that we can provide appropriate measures to allow parents to spend as much time as possible with their children, especially during those important early years. We know how vital those early years are in terms of the development of the child, so it is important that parents are allowed to spend that time with their children in a financially viable way.