Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if primary legislation on both parental leave and term time will be amended to allow parents and carers to be able to spend more time with their children when they are needed; and if he will work with all relevant Departments on this matter. [9719/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In accordance with section 28 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 and a Government commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, a working group chaired by my Department and comprising representatives from relevant Departments and the social partners was established in 2001 to review the operation of the Act. The report of the working group on the review of the Parental Leave Act 1998 was published in April 2002 and is available on my Department's website www.justice.ie and in the Oireachtas Library. The Government is committed, as part of the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement, to strengthen the parental leave scheme in line with the agreed recommendations of the social partners arising from the working group.

As a result of the Review of the Parental Leave Act 1998, the Government introduced the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004 which provides for a range of improvements to the existing parental leave legislation which will offer greater flexibility to working parents. The Bill, which implements the range of improvements agreed by the social partners was published on 16 December 2004. The main provisions of the Bill which is scheduled for Committee Stage consideration in the House on 22 March 2006 include raising the maximum age of the eligible child from five to eight years; an increase in the maximum age of the eligible child to 16 years in the case of children with disabilities; extension of parental leave entitlements to persons acting in loco parentis in respect of an eligible child; a statutory entitlement to take the 14 weeks' parental leave in separate blocks of a minimum of six continuous weeks, or more favourable terms with the agreement of the employer; that an employee who falls ill while on parental leave and as a result is unable to care for the child may suspend the parental leave for the duration of the illness following which period the parental leave recommences.

I should mention that term time is a non-statutory initiative and responsibility for the promotion of work-life balance initiatives, including term time, at the level of the enterprise is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It is equally important to ensure that the measures put in place whether statutory or otherwise are accessible in the workplace. In this regard, the Government established the national framework committee for work-life balance polices under the Sustaining Progress social partnership agreement. The committee has continued to build on the work of the former national framework committee for family friendly policies which was set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.

The framework committee supports and facilitates the development of work-life balance policies at the level of enterprise through the development of a package of practical measures that can be applied. One of its key tasks is to examine how best to improve access to family friendly working arrangements so that the potential benefits that these arrangements offer in regard to equality and competitiveness can be fully realised.