Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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94. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there will be a review of the rates of payment for the parent’s leave and benefit scheme to ensure that parents can afford taking up the leave including with regard to situations in which employers previously topped-up salaries of parents availing of this scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48201/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 introduced two weeks of Parent’s Leave and Benefit for each parent of a child born or adopted after 1 November 2019. As provided for in Budget 2021, Parent’s Leave and Benefit have been extended from 2 weeks to 5 weeks for each parent. These additional weeks are available to parents in respect of children born or adopted on or after 1st November 2019.

The period during which this leave can be taken has also been extended from 12 to 24 months so it can be taken up to a child's second birthday or within two years following adoption. These changes, which came into effect from 1 April 2021, enhance the flexibility of the scheme to make it easier for parents to avail of Parent’s Benefit.

Parent’s Benefit is paid at a weekly flat rate of €245 for 5 weeks to employed and self-employed people who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution and other conditions. The rate of Parent’s Benefit is in line with the rates of Paternity Benefit, Adoptive Benefit and Maternity Benefit.

A number of employers top up their employee’s Parent’s Benefit in much the same way as they offer to top up Maternity and Paternity benefit. These arrangements are discretionary private contractual arrangements agreed between employers and workers and, as such, are outside the realm of Social Welfare legislation.

Since the changes to Parent’s Benefit came into effect, the Department of Social Protection has awarded Parent’s Benefit to some 30,570 parents at a cost of over €23 million. Since the start of this year, some 37,926 applications for Parent’s Benefit have been awarded compared to 15,729 for the whole of 2020.

Any decisions in relation to the rate of Parent’s Benefit would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he plans to extend the parent’s leave and benefit to all parents of children born after November 2019 given that the current legislation excludes parents of children born by surrogacy; if he will ensure that lone-parents can avail of the full ten-weeks of the benefit and leave; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48200/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Under the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (as amended), working parents are entitled to five weeks of paid parents’ leave for each relevant parent, to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child.

The intention of this leave is to enable parents to spend time with their child in the earliest years. It is deliberately non-transferable between parents to ensure that both parents are encouraged and supported in taking time out from work to spend time with their child. This is further supported through the provision of Parents’ Benefit at €245 per week.

It is important to note that the entitlement under the 2019 Act is for each parent in their own right and is not an allocation per family. This is a requirement of the Work Life Balance directive. The Act was drafted in such a way as to take account of the broad complexion of family life and allows for an entitlement for the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the parent.

This means that each parent of the child, and their respective spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, is entitled to take parents’ leave in respect of that child. In effect this means that, if the parents of a child are not a couple but are in a separate relationship then their partner is entitled to parent’s leave to care for the child.

Commissioning surrogate parents may be entitled to Parents’ Leave, depending on their circumstances. The father of a child born through surrogacy can qualify for Parents’ Leave if he is the biological father of the child and declared to be the parent of the child. In these circumstances, the father's partner may qualify for Parents’ Leave if looking after the child in loco parentis and if they are married to, or in a civil partnership with, the child’s biological father, or have cohabited with the child’s biological father for over 3 years.

At a wider level, policy on surrogacy rests with the Minister for Health, and policy on parentage is a matter for the Minister for Justice. It is important to develop legislation on family leave in the context of the legal situation concerning parentage, including in relation to surrogacy. Any changes in the legal situation with regard to parentage and surrogacy are matters for the Minister for Justice and Minister for Health , but I will always be happy to working with them on these matters.