The European Commission has said that Ireland's interpretation of the Parental Leave directive is restrictive and against the spirit of that directive. The Commission effectively wants Ireland to remove the date, June 3 1996, from the Parental Leave Act introduced here in 1998. The Labour party has now called on the Minster for Justice to stop procrastinating and make the necessary changes.
The Commission has sent the Irish government a reasoned opinion which is in effect a legal document. The problem is essentially that the Parental Leave Act, introduced here in December 1998, says that only the parents of children born or adopted on or after June 3 1996 are eligible to take the 14-week unpaid leave, agreed with the employer and valid until the child is five years of age. It is the fact that an artificial date has been placed on the legislation that the Commission takes issue with. The legislation essentially discriminates against children under the age of five but born earlier in 1996.
In a statement, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has welcomed the clarification. They are now to examine what measures they need to put in place.
