Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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40. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on introducing a parental benefit for parents availing of unpaid parental leave; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37527/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Parental Leave allows both parents to take 26 weeks unpaid leave for each eligible child before their twelfth birthday, or their sixteenth birthday if the child has a disability or long-term illness. My colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth holds responsibility for Parental Leave.

Any decision regarding the introduction of Parental Benefit would require careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders as it would have cost implications and could only be considered in a Budgetary context.

There is a separate scheme called Parent's Leave which is also the responsibility of Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. However, there is an associated benefit payment for which I have responsibility. Parent’s Benefit is a payment for employed people, who are on Parent’s Leave from work, and self-employed people who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions.

Parent's Leave and Benefit are available to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019 and must be availed of within the first two years of the child’s life or adoption. Parent’s Benefit is paid at €274 per week - the same rate as Maternity, Paternity and Adoptive Benefits.

In Budget 2024 I provided for the number of weeks of Parent's Leave and Benefit available to each eligible parent to be increased from seven weeks to nine weeks. This increase took effect from August 2024. The estimated cost of this increase in Parent's Benefit is €10.3 million in 2024 and the overall estimated cost for a full year is €25.6 million.

In 2024, it is estimated that my Department will spend in excess of €98.7 million on Parent’s Benefit in respect of an average of 6,909 recipients per week.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.