Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 562: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has conducted a review of the provision here of rights and of financial supports for flexible parental leave which could allow parents to better balance their family and work responsibilities; the way provision in Ireland in his area of responsibility compares with best practice, for example in Scandinavian countries or in France; and if measures to strengthen Ireland's provision in this respect will form a part of his five year strategy for his Department. [25294/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The development of work life balance policies in Ireland is addressed on two fronts. Firstly, appropriate legislative measures provide for statutory entitlements such as maternity leave, adoptive leave, carer's leave, parental leave, maximum working hours, rest periods, annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

In accordance with section 28 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 and a Government commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, a review of the Act of 1998 was conducted by a Working Group chaired by my Department, which comprised the social partners, relevant Government Departments and the Equality Authority. The Report of the Working Group on the Review of the Parental Leave Act 1998 was published on 29 April, 2002. The Working Group as part of its work researched the practice in other countries.

Parental Leave provisions were subsequently increased in 2006 giving a statutory entitlement to take the 14 weeks parental leave in separate blocks of a minimum of 6 continuous weeks, or on more favourable terms with the agreement of the employee. Additional provisions raised the maximum age of the eligible child from 5 to 8 years; increased the maximum age of the eligible child to 16 years in the case of children with disabilities; extended parental leave entitlements to persons acting in loco parentis in respect of an eligible child; and extended the force majeure provisions to include persons in a relationship of domestic dependency, including same-sex partners.

The Government and the social partners are committed in the new social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, to review the level of provision of maternity/paternity leave again before the end of 2008. In this review, as in the previous exercise, note will be taken of comparative provisions and best practice across Europe. Moreover, the Government is committed in its Agreed Programme for Government to increase paid maternity leave by five weeks, to make all leave after the first 26 weeks available to either parent and to examine the possibility of introducing paternity benefit and shared parental leave.

Work life balance policies are also supported on a second front, through the voluntary approach which is supported by the work of the National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance Policies. The Committee, which was established under Social Partnership and chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is charged with supporting and facilitating the development of family friendly policies at the level of the enterprise through the development of a package of practical measures that can be applied. One of the tasks of the Committee is to examine how best to improve access to family friendly working arrangements in order to realise the potential benefits that these arrangements would offer from both an equality and competitiveness perspective.

The Agreed Programme for Government includes a commitment to work with the social partners to promote the greater availability of family-friendly work practices. This is being pursued through the work of the National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance Policies. My Department's Strategy Statement will be drawn up in a manner consistent with the Government's commitments under the Agreed Programme for Government and Towards 2016.