#EveryWeekCounts - National Women’s Council launches online campaign to extend Parent’s Leave

Published: Monday, January 25, 2021

The National Women’s Council (NWC) today launched a new online campaign #EveryWeekCounts, urging its supporters to write to their TDs to call for the immediate extension of paid Parent’s Leave by three weeks.

The Government committed to increasing paid Parent’s Leave from 2 weeks to 5 weeks for each parent of all children born or adopted on or after 1 Nov 2019.  However, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman has not enacted the necessary legislation yet.

The leave would mean an immense support right now for the many women and families with young children who are facing huge challenges in the current lockdown to combine working with minding their children.

Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council (NWC),

“Women and families of young children are currently in a desperate situation, trying to juggle working with childcare. The closure of schools, early years and childcare services has compounded these difficulties, with some women losing their jobs due to a lack of childcare. Women parenting alone face additional challenges in managing work and childcare. Every week women are contacting us asking for an update on the paid Parent’s Leave that the Government has committed to introduce for 2021. We are urging the Minister to take action now and introduce the promised three additional weeks of paid Parent’s Leave immediately.”

Sandra McCullagh, Women’s Economic Equality Coordinator said,

“In many cases, women have already given birth without a partner present, and faced into motherhood without family or professional support. What they are asking for now is simply that the Minister delivers on his promise to provide the three weeks additional paid Parent’s Leave, that he has already committed to, with immediate effect. Every additional week of support will make a huge difference to women and families right now.”

You can find out more about NWC’s #EveryWeekCounts campaign here: https://www.nwci.ie/action/now

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For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, Head of Communications, NWC, Tel. 085 858 9104.