The Government has passed "minimalist and miserly" legislation on parental leave and should pass further legislation to pay parents on such leave, SIPTU's general secretary, Mr John McDonnell, has said.
The Parental Leave Bill 1998, published on June 8th, allows parents of children born on or after June 3rd, 1996 the option of taking 14 weeks' unpaid leave before the child is five years old. Brought in to comply with an EU directive, the legislation comes into effect next December.
"The greatest defect of this long-awaited legislation is its failure to provide parents with any payment during the 14-week period of parental leave," said Mr McDonnell. Young parents would be most affected. They "will either forego the leave, or suffer financial hardship if they take it."
SIPTU wants to see included in next year's Social Welfare Bill a "provision for a parental leave payment similar to the existing maternity/adoptive benefit or health and safety benefit. Without this, the new legislation is a sham and an insult to both children and parents - particularly young parents on low incomes," he said.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, said in the Dail on June 24th that paid leave "would be costly for individual employers and would fundamentally damage Ireland's competitive position. While seven member states offer some form of payment others give no payment," or would do so only in restrictive circumstances.
The Minister said that employees taking the leave would not lose any of their long or short-term social welfare benefits.
The Bill has already been criticised by the ICTU and opposition parties as discriminatory and short-sighted. The Civil and Public Service Union described it as flawed, partly on the grounds that it failed to provide payment for parents taking leave.