Ireland to miss EU deadline on parental leave extension

WORKING parents will not be able to avail of an extra month’s leave as Ireland will miss an EU deadline requiring member states to lengthen to four months the period of parental leave for employees with young children.

The extended leave, which adds a month to the period available here, was to have taken effect from next March following a two-year lead-in from the time the extension was agreed in Brussels.

Ireland is to avail of a special derogation allowing an extra year to introduce the changes. The Department of Justice said this was due to “the Government’s very heavy legislative agenda” but that the changes would be in place by March 2013.