Parents of children born after June 1996 will be allowed to take 14 weeks' unpaid leave from work. It is understood the legislation, due to be published next week, will permit parents to avail of the leave period for each child under the age of five.
In spite of receiving a six-month derogation from introducing legislation to comply with an EU directive on parental leave earlier this year, the Government last Wednesday cleared a Bill to allow for the time off.
In the case of working couples, both partners will be entitled to the leave.
The 14-week period need not be taken en bloc but can be divided into segments of leave, with the agreement of the employer.
The Parental Leave Bill will be published next week and, according to senior sources, will pass all stages before the Dail rises for the summer recess in early July.
The directive originally required that member-states should have national legislation in place by June 3rd.
The decision to seek a derogation on the directive was in breach of Partnership 2000 and led to the general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, lodging a formal complaint with the European Commission.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform yesterday said the derogation arose from an anxiety that the EU deadline could not be met because of pressures in producing other legislation. The new Parental Leave Law will come into force shortly after it passes the Oireachtas.
Under the EU directive on parental leave, member-states have discretion to make parental leave available to parents with children aged up to eight.
The minimum age limit allowed by the directive is two years. Criticising the fact that the leave would be unpaid, Labour's justice spokesman, Dr Pat Upton, said most workers could not afford to avail of the provision.
"Unless you are well-heeled, this measure is effectively useless. Most people simply could not afford it.
"It is important for the Government to reconsider the whole unpaid element now the economy is growing rapidly," Dr Upton added.
According to Mr Jim Higgins, Fine Gael's spokesman on justice, if the scheme is to be "workable and attractive", consideration should be given to enabling the parents opting for leave to draw their social welfare contributions.
"The purpose of the scheme is to assist family stability. It is not unreasonable to expect that the social welfare fund - which also funds existing maternity leave benefits - should be extended," Mr Higgins said.