New legislation which allows parents to take unpaid leave to care for children has been severely criticised by the ICTU and opposition parties as discriminatory and short-sighted.
Congress warned that, unless the Bill is amended, it will make a further complaint to the European Commission.
The Parental Leave Bill, published yesterday, gives effect to an EU directive from December next. It will apply to parents of children born on or after June 3rd, 1996. Each parent will be entitled to a total of 14 weeks' leave, but it must be taken before the child is five years old.
However the ICTU's industrial officer, Ms Joan Carmichael, strongly condemned the lack of payment. She also criticised as "wrong and discriminatory" the restriction of the leave to parents of children born after June 1996.
Because the Government originally sought and received a derogation on implementing the directive, congress complained to the EU. The directive should have become law in member-states on June 3rd last.
According to Ms Carmichael, if the Government does not accept amendments in relation to paid leave, the ICTU will refer the matter to the EU again.
The Civil and Public Service Union described the Bill as "flawed", partly on the grounds that it failed to provide payment to parents taking leave.
According to Mr Blair Horan, general secretary of the CPSU, unpaid parental leave would simply reinforce the existing pattern of gender-segregated roles and the accompanying wage gap.
The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, said that if the scheme was to be workable and attractive, consideration should be given to enabling parents to draw on social welfare. The scheme would be irrelevant to the vast majority of parents unless some such financial support was in place, he said.
Labour's spokeswoman on equality and law reform, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said the Bill was a weak attempt at implementing an EU directive. It barely met the minimum guidelines on parental leave as envisaged by the EU.
"The EU directive provided that leave could be taken until the child was aged eight years. However, the Irish Government has managed to reduce this to the age of five years."
The Democratic Left spokeswoman on equality, Ms Liz McManus, said the Bill exposed the hypocritical approach of the Government towards families. She accused it of adopting an absolutely minimalist approach; only the well off could avail of the measures.
"There is a great contrast between the lavish expressions of solidarity with the family contained in the Fianna Fail/PD Programme for Government and the approach in this Bill," she added.