Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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303. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the non-transferability of carer's leave between spouses with the same employer will be examined as part of the process of bringing forward new family leave legislation; and the reason spouses with the same employer are allowed transfer some of their leave to each other under current parental leave legislation but no such transfer is allowed under current arrangements for carer's leave. [43177/18]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy has highlighted, section 6A of the Parental Leave Act 1998 allows parents working for the same employer to transfer up to 14 weeks of their unpaid parental leave entitlement from one parent to another.  Similarly, section 6 of the Carers Leave Act 2001 provides that employees with at least one year's continuous service are entitled to take up to 104 weeks of carers leave.   

The focus of the new family leave legislation is expected to be on parental leave rather than on carer's leave.  Given that an employee can get up to 104 weeks of carer's leave, it is difficult to see why transferability is necessary.  Furthermore, such a proposal may be to the detriment of women in the labour market, as traditionally it is women who take the majority of carers' leave.  Such a proposal, unless carefully considered, could create labour market disadvantage for women.  My preference instead is to encourage men as well as women to share caring responsibilities.