Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The reason to raise this Commencement matter is to call on the Government to deliver wholly on the purpose of the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act to facilitate working parents to balance paid employment and responsibilities to their children in a fair and equitable way. At present, each parent is entitled to two weeks' paid leave for children born from November 2019.The amendment extends this to five weeks for each parent, and under the EU directive it could extend further to seven or nine weeks.

The Act currently does not acknowledge or provide for one-parent families where one parent is doing the job of two. That is one in five families in the country. It takes into consideration families that were two-parent families where one parent dies but not when they both remain alive, which it should from an actuarial perspective. This legislation currently overlooks lone parents and this must be addressed. As a State, we cannot assume all families are headed by two parents and families have always come in all shapes and sizes. We must ensure we can support them in what they do rather than in their composition.

One-parent families doing the job of two parents should get the same amount of leave as two-parent families and the State should treat all families in a fair and equitable way. This is not just about equality as it is also about social justice. These parents are doing it all - parenting, working and everything else - but they are more vulnerable to hardship and poverty. The consistent poverty rate for one-parent families is 17.1% versus 5.5% for the population as a whole, according to 2019 figures. These people are five times as likely to experience deprivation and we know 86% of one-parent families have women as the parent, so we know they are more likely to return to work before their baby is six months old. They are also less likely to be in employment after nine months because of childcare needs. Let us remember that part of the legislation's purpose is to promote participation by mothers in the workplace, and it is another reason for the amendment.

I understand how we got here and I agree with what we are doing in trying to ensure we share the care, as it were. Much of the focus of this legislation is about that and trying to bring more equality between men and women. Ireland has huge progress to make in this area, including behavioural change, in trying to ensure duties are shared between the sexes. Covid-19 has shown us that. It is possible nevertheless to support that objective and one-parent families.

I have provided two options to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the relevant Oireachtas committee. They could look at transferring paid leave, and where it is not an option, additional leave could be provided for the relevant parent. This is to ensure we meet all the obligations and objectives of the legislation. I sincerely hope we can find a workable solution to this matter. The State should recognise all families and children equally.