There is some good news for working parents as Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, has signed off on a bill which will allow 4 further weeks of parental leave for families this year.
Minister Flanagan signed off on the 'Commencement Order for the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019' enabling working parents to apply for the additional unpaid parental leave from 1 September 2019.
In addition to this, the qualifying age has been increased from 8 years old to 12 years old.
Minister Flanagan said:
"The new measures allow any parent who has already availed of their current entitlement of 18 weeks to avail of a further eight weeks of parental leave. Parents can now apply to their employer for permission related to the first additional 4 weeks."
"The legislation also introduces an increase to the age of the child for which parental leave is available from 8 to 12 years. "
David Stanton, T.D., the Minister of State with responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration welcomed the commencement of this Act saying:
“ This is in addition to the two weeks paid Paternity Leave for fathers which commenced in 2016 and which almost 70,000 fathers have applied to the scheme since its introduction. "
"The Government will continue to support parents by providing greater flexibility in achieving and managing a work life balance.”
