A new plan to introduce paid Parental Leave in Ireland could help to address the gender pay gap and improve parents’ mental health and work-life balance, according to People Before Profit.

The party is today launching its Parental Leave Bill, which would see the State paying parents during their Parental Leave.

Currently, in Ireland, mothers are entitled to 26 weeks paid Maternity Leave, while fathers are entitled to two weeks paid Paternity Leave.

Both parents are also entitled to seven weeks paid ‘Parents Leave’ – an option that is due to increase to nine weeks next month.

Parents who qualify are entitled to claim €274 per week in Parents Benefit during their Parents Leave; however, they must take it in the first two years of their child’s life.

Both parents are also entitled to 26 weeks unpaid Parental Leave for each of their children within the first 12 years of their lives.

The new People Before Profit (PBP) bill aims to offer parents a payment throughout this 26-week period.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, PBP TD Paul Murphy said the move would bring Ireland in line with much of the rest of Europe.

“Lots of your listeners, right now, will be currently taking unpaid parental leave,” he said.

“Many will effectively feel they have no choice with the school holidays; someone needs to care for the kids and if you have the option […] then you might have to take it.

“For many people that will be a real struggle because you're losing one income into the family while your mortgage hasn't gone away and your other bills haven't gone away.

“So some people struggle in order to be able to take the unpaid parental leave and others simply can't afford to take it.

“Very, very few lone parents take unpaid parental leave and very, very few fathers - it's estimated less than 5% of fathers - take up unpaid parental leave because in general, because of the gender pay gap, they will be bringing in more income to the family.”

'Real choice'

He said the PBP bill is about offering parents “real choice”.

“What our bill does is effectively catch us up with much of the rest of Europe in saying that parents should have a right to paid parental leave,” he said.

He said his party would pay for the change by increasing employer PRSI contributions – noting that Irish businesses currently pay less PRSI than many of their European counterparts.

“Ultimately, this should be paid for by employers but, effectively, indirectly rather than directly to discourage any sense of discrimination against parents or any disincentive.”

The Dublin TD said the plan would offer huge benefits to parents.

“The win here - and there's lots and lots of evidence for it - is that an increased take up of Parental Leave would have big positive impacts in terms of work-life balance, in terms of mental health for fathers, for mothers, for children," he said.

"It could also address, to some degree, both the gender pay gap and the gender care gap in terms of, you know, whose role it is to care for children and so on, because significantly more fathers would take it up,” he said.

Parental Leave

Asked about the potential for further business insolvencies due to rising costs, he said many businesses are putting on the poor mouth about costs even as their profits rise.

“Some employers say, oh, we simply can't afford it, look at the insolvency, etc,” he said.

“When you dig into it, yes, there are insolvencies, yes, there are small businesses that are struggling, no question about it.

“As a whole though, across corporations in particular, if you look at hospitality and retail, which are often those sectors brought to the fore, their profits have gone up over the last few years.

“So you have a campaign to put on the poor mouth for employers as a whole by showcasing real stories - I'm not denying they are real stories - about insolvencies and companies struggling and so on, but the answer for those things is not to delay sick pay.

"It is not to delay increasing the minimum wage, it's not to delay introducing paid parental leave; it is to introduce schemes to support those small businesses that are struggling.”

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