Parental leave in Ireland: 26 unpaid weeks before your child turns 12

Parental leave is the long, unpaid leave that lets a parent take time out of work during a child's early years. Each parent has 26 weeks for each child, to be used before the child turns 12, with six weeks' notice to the employer. It is separate from the shorter paid leaves, and the most common question about it has a short answer: it is not paid.

This guide covers the entitlement, who qualifies, how the weeks can be taken, the employer's limited right to postpone, your protection while you are away, and PRSI credits for the gap. The law is the Parental Leave Acts 1998 to 2023.

Paid or unpaid: answered plainly

Parental leave is unpaid. Your employer does not have to pay you for any of it, and the Department of Social Protection pays no benefit for it. You can ask the Department to credit PRSI contributions for the weeks you are off so that your social insurance record has no gap, but that is a credit on the record, not money.

The leaves that do carry a payment are different Acts with similar names:

• Parent's leave: nine weeks for each parent within two years of the birth, paid by Parent's Benefit at €299 a week.
• Maternity leave: 26 weeks paid by Maternity Benefit, plus 16 unpaid.
• Paternity leave: two weeks paid by Paternity Benefit.

If you are searching "parental leave ireland paid", the paid one you may be thinking of is parent's leave. The glossary keeps the names straight.

Some employers pay part salary during parental leave, or allow it to be taken in a pattern that eases the loss of income. That is a contractual benefit; look in your contract, the handbook or a collective agreement. Public servants, teachers and HSE staff have their own circulars on how it is taken; see teachers and SNAs and HSE staff.

The entitlement in one table

Who qualifies

Each parent of the child qualifies: the mother, the father, an adoptive parent, and a person acting in loco parentis, which covers a step-parent or a guardian who is bringing up the child. The entitlement is personal to each parent, so both parents can take their own 26 weeks for the same child.

The Act requires one year's continuous service with the employer for the full 26 weeks. If you have between three months' and a year's service when the child is about to pass the age limit, the Act gives a reduced entitlement of one week for each month of service, so that the leave is not lost altogether. Where both parents work for the same employer, the Act allows some of one parent's leave to be transferred to the other with the employer's agreement; check the Act's current limit.

The child's 12th birthday is the cut-off, or the 16th where the child has a disability or a long-term illness. For an adopted child adopted between the ages of 10 and 12, the leave can be taken for two years after the adoption order. Unused weeks are lost at the deadline, which is why the leave planner exists.

How the 26 weeks can be taken

The Act gives three options.

1. One continuous block of 26 weeks.
2. Two separate blocks, each of at least six weeks, with a gap of at least ten weeks between them, unless the employer agrees to a shorter gap.
3. A pattern agreed with the employer, such as one day a week, half days, or a set of shorter blocks. The Act allows any arrangement the two of you agree in writing, and many parents use it to take a day a week over a long period.

The third option depends on agreement; the employer does not have to accept a day-a-week pattern, but many do. If no pattern can be agreed, you fall back on the first two options, which the employer cannot refuse, only postpone.

The leave is per child, so a parent of twins has 52 weeks, and each child's leave is a separate entitlement with its own notice.

Notice to your employer

Give the employer written notice at least six weeks before the leave starts, saying the date it will begin, how long it will last, and how you want to take it. The employer can ask for evidence of the child's date of birth and your relationship to the child. A letter or email is enough; keep a copy and the acknowledgement.

Not later than four weeks before the leave starts, you and the employer sign a confirmation document setting out the dates and the pattern. That document governs the leave, and changes after it need both of you to agree in writing.

You can withdraw a notice before the confirmation document is signed. After that, the employer's agreement is needed to change the dates.

The employer's right to postpone

The employer cannot refuse parental leave to a parent who qualifies and has given notice. What it can do is postpone the start by up to six months, where granting the leave on the dates you chose would have a substantial adverse effect on the business. The Act gives examples: seasonal variations in the work, the unavailability of a replacement, the nature of your duties, or the number of other employees already on parental leave.

To postpone, the employer must consult you first and then give you written notice of the postponement and the reasons at least four weeks before the leave was due to start. The leave can normally be postponed only once, except where the reason is seasonal, in which case a second postponement is possible. Where a postponement would push the leave past the child's 12th birthday, the Act extends the deadline so that the leave is not lost.

If you think a postponement does not meet those conditions, or amounts to a refusal, the dispute can be referred to the WRC within six months. Leave that was refused or lost as a result can be ordered to be granted, and compensation of up to 20 weeks' pay can be awarded under the Act; what adjudicators actually award is on /wrc/awards.

Protection of your employment

While you are on parental leave your contract continues, your service is unbroken, and you are treated as if you had been at work for every purpose except pay and pension contributions. Annual leave keeps accruing for the whole period under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, and a public holiday that falls during a block of leave is added to your entitlement. The rules are in annual leave entitlement in Ireland.

You are entitled to return to the job you held, under the same contract and on terms no less favourable, or, if that is not reasonably practicable, to suitable alternative work on terms not substantially less favourable. A pay rise or other improvement given to everyone while you were away applies to you.

Under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015 a dismissal wholly or mainly because you took or asked for parental leave is treated as unfair, with no 12-month service requirement. Penalising you for taking it, through loss of hours, worse duties, a withheld bonus or a missed promotion, may be penalisation under the Parental Leave Acts and discrimination on the family status ground. Both go to the WRC within six months; see how to make a WRC complaint and, if the job ended, unfair dismissal in Ireland.

PRSI credits for the gap

Because the leave is unpaid, no PRSI is paid for the weeks you are off. You can ask the Department to credit contributions for those weeks so that there is no gap in your record for future benefits and the State Pension. Your employer confirms the dates of the leave to the Department, usually by letter at the end of the leave. Ask HR to do this; it costs nothing and it matters years later.

Illness during parental leave

If you fall ill during parental leave and are unable to care for the child, you can ask the employer to suspend the parental leave and treat the period of illness as sick leave instead, with the rest of the parental leave to be taken later. That preserves access to statutory sick pay and, after it, Illness Benefit; see Illness Benefit after sick pay.

Flexible working instead of leave

If what you need is a changed pattern rather than time off, the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives parents of children under 12 the right to request flexible working, and all employees with six months' service the right to request remote working. The employer must answer within four weeks and may refuse on business grounds. The detail is in remote and flexible working requests.

Where this leaves you

Each parent has 26 unpaid weeks for each child before the 12th birthday, 16th where the child has a disability, to be taken in one block, two blocks of at least six weeks, or a pattern the employer agrees, with six weeks' written notice and a confirmation document four weeks out. The employer can postpone once, for up to six months, with written reasons, but cannot say no. Your job, your service and your annual leave are protected throughout.

The leave planner takes the child's date of birth and your planned blocks, checks them against the 12th birthday and the minimum block lengths, and gives you the six-week notice date for each one. It also shows how parental leave fits around the paid leaves so that the paid weeks are used first.