Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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465. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department will examine raising the age of children from 13 years for parents to qualify for parental leave, given the high number of parents with mid-teenage children who want the opportunity to take such leave and in the context of Tusla's insistence that children under 16 years cannot be left alone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10989/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Under the Parental Leave Act 1998 (as amended), an employee who is a relevant parent in respect of a child under the age 12 is entitled to 26 weeks unpaid parental leave for each child. Where a child has a disability or long-term illness, the entitlement can continue until the child is 16. A relevant parent is a parent, an adoptive parent, or a person acting in ‘loco parentis’.

There have been significant developments in the entitlements to family leaves for working families in recent years, and this includes the extension of the parental leave entitlements in 2019 from 18 weeks to 26 weeks, and the extension of the time period in which the leave can be taken from when the child attains the age of 8 years to when the child attains the age of 12 years. Family leave is focused on younger children as they benefit most from a parent being able to take leave from work to care for them.

Family leave provisions are kept under review to ensure that they are appropriate to the needs of working parents. Mindful of the significant new leave entitlements being brought forward this year through the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022. However, there are no current plans to extend the entitlements to parental leave.