The move promises to address the gender pay gap and significantly improve parents’ mental health and work-life balance.
Today, People Before Profit unveiled its Parental Leave Bill, which seeks to provide state-paid parental leave.
Currently, Irish mothers are entitled to 26 weeks of paid Maternity Leave, and fathers receive two weeks of paid Paternity Leave.
In addition, both parents are entitled to seven weeks of paid 'Parents Leave,' which is set to increase to nine weeks next month.
Eligible parents can claim €274 per week in Parents Benefit during their Parents Leave, which must be taken within the first two years of their child's life.
Furthermore, both parents are entitled to 26 weeks of unpaid Parental Leave for each child within the first 12 years of their lives. The new bill from PBP proposes to extend payments throughout this 26-week period.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, PBP TD Paul Murphy highlighted the necessity of this change, and said: "Lots of your listeners, right now, will be currently taking unpaid parental leave.
“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."
Murphy emphasised the financial strain unpaid leave places on families: "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."
He pointed out the gender disparity in taking unpaid leave: "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.”
The bill, according to Murphy, is about providing parents with "real choice" and aligning Ireland with European standards.
"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.
To fund this initiative, PBP proposes increasing employer PRSI contributions.
Murphy argued: "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."
Murphy spoke of the broad benefits of the plan: "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.
“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.”
