Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-18
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Roche for raising this important matter. Of course, we all want to make sure that new parents, mums and dads, are able to spend time with their babies. There are currently two weeks of paternity leave available in Ireland. It is also important to say there are also nine weeks of parent's leave and benefit available to both parents. Parent's benefit is currently paid at a rate of €299 per week. Let us be truthful here: the take-up of parent's leave is much lower among men than it is among women. Again, we should try to unpack this because I think some of the issues the Deputy talks about may well be correct: young families, mortgages to pay, financial commitments and people trying to balance a range of issues and bills that a household will face. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce pay-related parent's benefit whereby your payment would be linked to your salary, similar to what we have done in relation to pay-related jobseeker's benefit. That is a good model. People who have worked hard and paid into the system then are able to get something back from that system at a time when they might need it as well. It is a commitment I am keen to see progressed, and I will ask that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, updates Deputy Roche on it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-18