Departmental Policies

Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Questions (759)

Roderic O'Gorman

Question:

759. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Social Protection if his Department is considering a policy change to bring Ireland in line with the rest of Europe in terms of granting maternity and paternity benefit at 100% or a high percentage of salary for all or a portion of a person's entitlement to the corresponding leave; if there are policy learnings from the recent implementation of Jobseekers pay-related benefit scheme which could support a similar change in terms of maternity and paternity benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9908/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

The Programme for Government commits to ‘Introduce Pay-Related Parent's Benefit and explore other payments where a similar model could be applied.’ While the initial focus is on Parent’s Benefit, the development of this scheme will help to inform the considerations around extension of a pay-related approach for other family leave benefits.

Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit will have been in place for a full year by the end of March 2026. My Department will draw on the operational experience and learnings from its first year of implementation to inform the examination of pay-related approaches for other schemes.

I intend to seek the views of the public later in the year to support this process and to assist in the development of any future proposals.