David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, Section 6 of the Parental Leave Act 1998 provides for unpaid parental leave for a child up to the age of eight, or 16 years of age in the case of a child with a serious illness or disability.  Once enacted and commenced, the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017, will increase the qualifying age to 12 years.

I understand that generally, public servants including civil servants, may take parental leave until their child is 13 years and I can confirm that there are no plans to amend the 1998 Act to reflect this position. 

The Deputy will appreciate that the age of the child provided for in the Act is a statutory minimum, and it is at the discretion of individual employers whether they wish to extend the eligibility criteria for their employees to avail of parental leave beyond that minimum.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 114 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Parental Leave Act 1998, generally, does not provide for the transfer of parental leave between parents.

Section 6(6) of the Act provides that where two or parents are entitled to parental leave, neither of the parents shall be entitled to (a) the parental leave of any other parent, or (b) to transfer any part of the period of their parental leave to any other parent in respect of their child.

However, there is one very specific exception to this provision. Section 6(7) of the Act provides that where both parents are employed by the same employer, one parent may transfer up to 14 weeks of parental leave to the other, only if their employer consents.

These provisions will remain unchanged by the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017, once enacted and commenced.

In all other cases, parental leave remains non-transferable, and I can confirm that the Government has no plans to change this position.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017,  as passed by both House of the Oireachtas, provides that parents may take any unused leave from their entitlement to parental leave under the 1998 Act, as long as their child is under the qualifying age of 12 years.

I can confirm that parents will be entitled to apply to their employers to take any unused parental leave, from their original entitlement to 18 weeks of parental leave under the 1998 Act, once the Bill is enacted and commenced. Parents will still be required to give their employer six weeks’ notice of their intention to take leave as per section 8(1) of the 1998 Act.  However under section 8(4) of the Act, employers have the discretion to waive this requirement.

As the Deputy will be aware from discussions during the progress of the Bill through the House of the Oireachtas, my officials are currently preparing a commencement order and I expect that Minister Flanagan will sign the order no later than 19 July.