The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) will also propose a publicly subsidised childcare system that will reduce the cost of child-minding for working parents. The recommendations will be presented to the government in September as part of social partnership negotiations with ministers.
Orla O’Connor, the council’s director of policy, said: “It’s nonsense to have parental leave that isn’t paid, because so many people can’t afford to take up unpaid leave. We will be saying that for the first year of a child’s life, a combination of extended maternity leave and parental leave has to be paid.”
Overall, the council is to recommend that up to 1% of GDP be spent on childcare.
But childcare experts have already questioned the cost effectiveness of the proposals and say shorter working hours for new parents would be less harmful to the economy than paid leave.
Bernie Purcell, director of the Roebuck Counselling Centre, said: “These recommendations are a leap too far right now. Parents need to remain in full-time employment after their child is born because otherwise the entire workforce would be affected by paid parental leave and time away from employment.
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“A range of other options would work, including new parents being able to cut down on their working hours or different schedules allowing time for parents to look after their child. The council’s proposals are too pie-in-the-sky at the moment. Ireland has not developed its childcare system enough to include these kind of recommendations.”
The NWCI report, drawn up by the Centre for Social and Educational Research (CSER), will also recommend that the government subsidise childcare until the age of four, and that the first year of pre-school care be free. Such subsidies exist in France and Canada.
The bulk of the subsidies would be paid to child minders and creches to improve the quality of childcare and reduce the cost. Parents would be given grants based on their ability to pay for child-minding services.
O’Connor said: “For the first, second and third year of the child’s life, we would be proposing that subsidies be given to the providers of childcare.”
In 2002, the idea of paid parental leave was rejected in talks between the government, employers and trade unions on the grounds that it would be too expensive.
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Michael McDowell, the justice minister, last week announced a €45m initiative to create almost 4,000 community-based childcare places. According to the OECD, Irish childcare investment is low by EU standards, at less than 0.2% of GDP.
Irish parents spend an average of 20% of earnings on childcare, compared to the EU average of 8%.