Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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1227. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost of making 18 months of shareable paid maternity and paternity leave available to parents. [34600/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to a total of 18 months leave which would be shareable between parents rather than an additional 18 months of sharable leave on top of the current provisions.

The Department of Justice and Equality have responsibility for maternity and paternity leave which are provided for in the 1994 and 2004 Maternity Acts and the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016. Maternity leave is only available to the mother and paternity leave is only available to the relevant parent as designated by the mother. Currently there is no provision for the sharing of maternity or paternity leave. Any decision to change the current leave arrangements to allow for the sharing of leave would be the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality.

My Department has responsibility for the payment of maternity and paternity benefit as provided for in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended). With the introduction of two weeks of paid paternity leave in addition to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave there are potentially 28 weeks of paid support available to parents. The scheme envisaged by the Deputy would represent an additional 44 weeks of paid leave for parents.

Based on current rates of €235 per week, the estimated cost of extending the duration of maternity benefit is approximately €10.3 million for each extra week and the estimated cost of extending the duration of paternity benefit is approximately €5.5 million for each extra week.

These estimates are based on the current take-up for each of the schemes and an assumption that were the duration of these schemes extended the current cohort of recipients of each scheme would avail of the additional weeks of payment. Furthermore, these estimates are subject to change over the coming months in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients for 2017. It should also be noted that there are also costs to the Exchequer as these estimates do not include the costs of salary top-ups for public/civil servants.

Maternity leave policies in EU Member States are governed by the 1992 Pregnant Workers Directive, which sets the minimum period for maternity leave at 14 weeks, with 2 weeks’ compulsory leave before and/or after confinement and an adequate allowance subject to national legislation. As such, there is a minimum compulsory maternity leave which must be taken by the woman.

It is only leave over and above this minimum which could be potentially shared by parents.

It is not possible to accurately estimate the cost of shared maternity and paternity leave for 18 months as the level of take-up of such a scheme is unknown. There are a number of factors that determine the take up of any new scheme such as this including, parental choice, whether the father or relevant parent has sufficient PRSI contributions, whether they are self-employed and can take the time off from their business and if an employee, whether or not their employer would top up their wages for some or all of the leave.