A judgment by the European Court of Justice that gives French fathers the same pension entitlements as working mothers could spark off renewed demands from Irish unions for more family friendly workplace policies. The general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Union, Mr Blair Horan, said the surplus in the social insurance fund, which the Government intends "raiding" to balance the public accounts, should be used instead to support childcare for working parents. He described yesterday's court decision as socially progressive because it recognised the special problems of working parents. However, he was not optimistic it would help to achieve more rights here. "Many politicians are afraid to promote policies that try to reconcile work and family responsibilities, because they fear a backlash from the stay at home spouse lobby. That means we don't really have measures to create family friendly workplaces. We don't have measures that allow parents to take time off to rear their children, we don't have paid parental leave and we don't have pension credits." In the French case Mr Joseph Griesmar, a retired magistrate, sued the government because, unlike female civil servants, he could not receive extra pension credits for time taken off for childminding purposes.