Ireland to avail of extension on introducing new Parental Leave provisions
It has been announced that Ireland will not meet the initial 2012 deadline to introduce an EU law extending unpaid parental leave, but will avail of an optional one-year extension.
All member states have agreed a European Council directive extending the period of unpaid parental leave for parents of children under eight years of age to four months.
The new law is due to be enacted by March 2012 but has a provision allowing Member States an extra year if required.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the Government's heavy legislative agenda meant the parental leave directive could not be transposed until March 2013.
The directive entitles fathers and mothers to a total of four months unpaid leave until their child is eight years of age. The directive came into force in March 2010.
Currently in Ireland parents of children under the age of 8 (or 16 in the case of a child with a disability) are permitted to take 14 weeks unpaid Parental leave.
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