Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the numbers and take up rates of parental leave for each year since the introduction of the Parental Leave Act 1998. [18827/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am not in a position to provide the Deputy with the information requested as my Department does not compile statistics on uptake of parental leave. However, the Deputy may be interested to know that a survey was commissioned on the uptake levels of parental leave in the context of a review of the Parental Leave Act 1998 which was conducted by my Department in 2001. The survey, carried out by MORI MRC, consisted of 655 questionnaires completed by employers during July and August 2001.

According to MORI MRC's estimates, almost 7% of employees were eligible for parental leave and 20% of these were estimated to have taken some form of parental leave. A summary of the findings of this survey are published in the report of the working group on the review of the Parental Leave Act 1998, which is available on my Department's website www.justice.ie and in the Oireachtas Library.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the numbers and take up rates of unpaid maternity leave in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [18828/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department does not compile statistics on the uptake of additional unpaid maternity leave. Consequently, I am not in a position to provide the information sought by the Deputy.