New regulations published yesterday have been welcomed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Ms Joan Carmichael, equality officer, said the changes corrected an injustice in the Parental Leave Act, 1998.
The regulations were necessary to give effect to the EU Parental Leave Directive and to amend the Parental Leave Act.
Parents whose children were born or adopted in the period December 3rd, 1993, to June 2nd, 1996, now have an entitlement to parental leave.
The new regulations remove the requirement that children must be born on or after June 3rd, 1996, for parental leave entitlement.