Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government takes very seriously the needs of working parents, and the difficulties they are facing in the current pandemic. There have been a number of advances in the leave available to working parents in recent years. The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 introduced for the first time paid parent’s leave of two weeks for each parent to be taken in the first year of a child’s life or within the first year of placement with the family, in the case of adoption. The Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019 further extended the availability of unpaid parental leave – as of 1 September 2020 this is now 26 weeks to be taken up until a child’s twelfth birthday.

Where a parent requires urgent leave from work, they may avail of force majeure leave which gives an employee a limited right to leave from work. Under the Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2019, this leave is available where, for urgent family reasons, the immediate presence of the employee is required due to illness or injury of a close family member, including a child or adopted child. The maximum amount of leave available is 3 days in a 12-month period or 5 days in a 36-month period.

In response to the current needs, the Government is also examining the possibility of extending parent’s leave and benefit from two weeks to five weeks for each parent, and to extend the period in which this leave can be taken. I am consulting with the Minister for Social Protection on these proposals.