David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 7 is a consequential amendment that is required due to the insertion of section 7(1)(ba). Senators will recall that amendment is required to address an error in the Bill and will provide families with greater flexibility in how they take their leave.

When the primary Act was enacted in 1998, parents could take a single period of 14 weeks leave or smaller periods as agreed with their employer. Parents were required to give one single notification up to six weeks in advance of taking leave in compliance with section 8(1).

In 2013, the Act was amended to increase parental leave to 18 weeks. It was then provided for in a new section 7(1)(aa) that leave could be taken in an 18-week block, in two separate blocks of six or more weeks or in smaller periods, days, half days, etc., as agreed with their employer. A new section 8(7) was also inserted into the Act to provide that where a person provided a notification for all their parental leave or provided two individual notifications in line with section 7(1)(aa), one for each of the two periods they were entitled to or intended to take, they were deemed to have complied with the requirements under section 8(1).

A similar amendment is now required with regard to the notice that parents are required to give as section 7(1)(ba) allows parents to take leave in individual blocks of a week or more. A new section 8(8), similar in purpose to section 8(7) is now required to enable parents taking leave under section 7(1)(ba) to comply with the notification requirements of section 8(1).

In brief, if a parent wishes to take their leave in patterns of a week or more, for example, to facilitate mid-term breaks and shorter holidays such as Easter, etc., parents can provide either a single notification specifying each period of leave that they wish to take or else submit notifications for each period of leave to be taken and having done so, they shall be deemed compliant with the notification requirements under section 8(1) of the Act.