Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

352. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of extending parental leave by two weeks. [23759/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Parental Leave is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth. That scheme provides parents with unpaid leave from work to spend time looking after their children. Parents can take up to 26 weeks’ Parental Leave for each eligible child before their 12th birthday.

Parent's Leave and Benefit are currently available for seven weeks to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019 and must be used within the first two years of the child’s life or adoption. Parent’s Benefit is paid at €262 per week - the same rate as Maternity, Paternity and Adoptive Benefits.

Parent’s Benefit was paid to 74,017 recipients in 2022 at a cost of approximately €65.6 million. A budget of €89.78 million is provided for Parent’s Benefit in 2023. Any decision to extend the period of Parent's Leave is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Integration, Disability, and Youth, who has policy and legal responsibility for Parent's Leave.

The cost of extending Parent's Benefit by two weeks is approximately €25.6 million which would result in an annual expenditure on the scheme of approximately €115 million. It should be noted that this costing is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated number of recipients.

These estimates do not reflect any additional costs which may be incurred by employers who provide substitution or salary top-ups which, in the Civil and Public Sector, would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

In line with the EU Work Life Balance Directive, Parent’s Leave and Benefit will increase by two weeks to nine weeks by August 2024.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.