Paid paternity leave added to draft law

Paid paternity leave could be provided for the first time under new laws being drafted by the Justice Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, who said fathers need more support in sharing duties to care for children.

“Nearly 40 years after the introduction of maternity leave we need to take a long look at statutory paternity leave for fathers,” she said.

Ms Fitzgerald was addressing a conference in Dublin which heard that Ireland is one of the few countries that does not provide any paid leave to fathers and is “lagging behind” its European counterparts in leave entitlements for parents.