Plea over parents' time for children

Government policy is standing in the way of people having time to be parents, it was claimed today.

Speaking on Work Life Balance Day – designed to give workers more free time for their families and personal interests – Labour Senator Kathleen O’Meara, party spokesperson on children, said the time for action was now.

“Irish parents need to have access to working arrangements such as job sharing, flexitime, term time working, and career leave,” she said.

Longer maternity leave laws were welcomed by equality chiefs at a special ceremony to mark Work Life Balance Day, but Niall Crowley of the Equality Authority said the country still lags behind its European counterparts.

Employees taking maternity leave can now have 22 weeks leave, compared to the previous 18 weeks, and are entitled to take an additional 12 weeks unpaid leave. But the state is still one of the few EU countries without paternity entitlement, with the current provision for 14 weeks unpaid leave discriminating in favour of the better off.

“This clearly is a policy in need of significant improvement,” said Mr Crowley. “Work-life balance must be a key focus for workplace action.”

With many workers successfully negotiating job sharing, career breaks or tele-working, getting the balance between the employer and employee was also highlighted as a key issue at the Equality Authority launch. Hours spent commuting to work was also blamed for taking up workers’ social time.

The Minister of State for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen TD said it was important that work-life balance was not just confined to one day, but valued at over a longer period.

“Fifteen years ago people were more concerned about having a job,” he said. “Now we have a high level of employment and a lower level of long term unemployment and it is now important to achieve a work life balance. We would like to see the maximum number of people in employment and those in employment with good conditions.”

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has vowed to improve people’s working life and life outside work, said Assistant General Secretary Sally Anne Kinahan.

“There are now over 800,000 working people with children of pre-school or school-going age and tens of thousands more who provide care to ageing parents and family members with disabilities or special needs,” she said. “It is important to recognise that the lack of an entitlements to flexible working is felt most sharply by them.”

Green Party spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment Eamon Ryan, said the Government’s policies over the past number of years made it increasingly difficult for people to strike a healthy work-life balance.

“Work-life balance makes sense, not only for employees, their families and communities, but also for employers. So many Irish firms are starting to put in place their own form of flexible working arrangements because they recognise that healthy, contented individuals provide a more productive, adaptable workforce.”