Maternity leave should be split to boost female entrepreneurship

Parents should be able to split up to 42 weeks of maternity leave between the mother and father in order to boost levels of female participation in high impact startups. This is one of the recommendations made in a pre-budget briefing from a body representing Ireland’s high impact startup sector.

According to Start-Up Ireland, many female entrepreneurs are forced to choose between having a company and having a family under the current system. If maternity leave was redefined as “parental leave” however, and was sharable between a mother and her legal partner, this would enable increased levels of female participation in high impact startups.

Ahead of next week’s budget, the representative body has also called for the introduction of a number of measures to improve Ireland’s competitiveness as a location for start-ups.

Eoin Costello, co-founder, Startup Ireland, says that Ireland has " accumulated a number of unintentional obstacles to entrepreneurs and startups and Government has a critical role to play in addressing this".

“We need only look to the UK for a positive example of what can be achieved when startup-friendly policies are implemented, including multiple significant tax incentives to encourage people to create and invest in new technology companies. With many startups in Ireland already choosing to incorporate their business in Northern Ireland to avail of these incentives, there is clear evidence that Ireland is at a competitive disadvantage to its nearest neighbour when seeking to secure entrepreneurial talent”.

One of the measures Startup Ireland is calling for is for the government to provide PAYE tax credit to entrepreneurs, as the lack of it acts as a “specific disincentive that discourages people from becoming entrepreneurs”.

Implementing similar Capital Gains Tax (CGT) treatment to the UK is also favoured.

“ Ireland should implement a progressive scheme similar to the UK‘s Entrepreneur Relief Scheme by applying a lower rate of 10 per cent CGT on the first €12.5 million earned from investments by founders of startups,” Start-Up Ireland says.