Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 359: To ask the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on the draft EU directive recently passed by the European Parliament, which provides for fully paid maternity leave of 20 weeks. [43420/10]

Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In 2008 the European Commission published proposals to amend the 1992 Maternity Leave Directive by extending the period of maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks. The Commission did not propose any change to the payment regime during this proposed period of maternity leave. The period in question is below the current Irish provision of 26 weeks and, accordingly, the Commission proposal did not impact on the Irish situation. Discussions have taken place on the Commission proposal at a Council of Ministers technical working group and, while some amendments were made to the original proposal, these still did not impact upon Ireland's position.

Commission proposals such as this are subject to the co-decision procedure whereby both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament must agree the new proposed Directive. Following its first reading of the Commission proposal, the European Parliament proposed an extension of the period of maternity leave to 20 weeks, which was still below the Irish provision. However, the Parliament has also proposed that this period of leave would be fully paid, which would have a significant cost for most Member States, where the maternity leave regime is shorter and/or not fully remunerated at present. This latter aspect of the Parliament's proposal would impact on Ireland's Exchequer bill and/or employer costs.

Under the rules of procedure agreed between the Parliament and the European Commission, the Commission must now carefully examine the amendments to its legislative proposal adopted by Parliament. The Commission is continuing a consultation process with Member States at official and political levels in relation to the Parliament's proposals in this regard.