Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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548. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 432 of 8 December 2020, the progress being made on providing adoptive leave and removing the lacuna in the legislation that discriminates against same-sex couples in view of the commitment given by the previous Government. [8967/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Section 6 of the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 provides for an entitlement to 24 weeks of paid adoptive leave for an employed adopting mother or a sole male adopter, and an additional 16 weeks of unpaid leave. Under the current legislation, adoptive leave is not available to male same-sex couples who are adopting jointly.

Addressing the access to adoptive leave and benefit by male same-sex couples is an important commitment in the Programme for Government and is of great significance for couples seeking to adopt. Under proposals approved by Government in December 2020, provisions to amend the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 will be included alongside proposed amendments to the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019. This legislation is currently being drafted and will be introduced in the coming weeks.

While the provisions are intended to enable male same-sex adopting couples to avail of adoptive leave, the provisions will also allow all adopting couples to choose who should take the leave and will entitle the parent who is not in receipt of adoptive leave to paternity leave. The introduction of this legislation will provide greater choice and flexibility for parents in determining the arrangements which best suit their family, as well as removing the assumption underpinning the current legislation that women are the primary caregivers in all instances.