Children's Minister James Reilly yesterday launched a new childcare report, outlining proposals for the restructuring childcare in Ireland.

He wants to examine the three areas of early childhood care covered by maternity leave, parental leave and pre-school care.

Parents will be following developments with rapt attention, though the Minister has refused to be drawn on how much money might be made available for changes to childcare in October's budget.

The review recommends extending maternity leave and allowing both parents to benefit from it, creating a paid parental leave period.

Specifically, that leave would be for one year, an extension of six months. 

Such a move would cost the State €273m, and there is no funding for it at the moment.

The report also considers allowances to help with private creche fees and extending the number of pre-school hours provided under the ECCE programme.

But what about the current parental leave programme? Are parents even aware of their current entitlements?  

Currently, parental leave is unpaid and available to both parents. It is seperate to maternity leave and different to the kind of enhanced parental leave the report envisages.

Parental leave entitlements today are outlined below:

• Parental leave is unpaid but your job is protected
• EACH parent is entitled to 18 weeks leave, to be taken before the child turns eight
• Your employer must facilitate parental leave, though they can postpone it twice
• Leave can be taken in a block, in two chunks, or - if your employer agrees - in days or hours
• Six weeks written notice is required
• You are entitled to take annual leave and Bank Holidays that accrues while you are off
• Law only covers minimum entitlements, your employer can offer you more
• Parents of more than one child are limited to taking 18 weeks in a 12-month period
• You are not entitled to social welfare payments while on parental leave.

More information on your rights is available at www.citizensinformation.ie

Parental leave is not the same as force majeure, which is designed for use when a family member becomes suddenly unwell.

An employee is entitled to force majeure leave of up to a maximum of three days in a period of 12 consecutive months or five days in a period of 36 consecutive months.