Fathers slow to avail of paternity leave

As few as one in four new fathers may have taken up the option of paid paternity leave in the months after the scheme was introduced last September.

Figures for the first three months of the scheme’s operation show 3,581 claims for the two weeks of paid leave were approved from September 1 to November 31.

But, with births averaging around 65,000 per year here, there will have been more than 16,000 births in the same period, meaning there was roughly one claim for every four and a half births.

Allowing for births to unemployed fathers and those who may not have sufficient PRSI contributions to be eligible for the scheme, the ratio undoutbtedly improves somewhat but still the majority of fathers appear not to have availed of it.

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar nevertheless declared himself delighted with the take-up. His department said fathers could take the leave any time in the first 26 weeks after their child’s birth, so even those born on September 1 would have until the end of February to avail of it.

However, the early figures lend weight to concerns expressed by equality campaigners that the scheme would not go far enough to entice or enable fathers to take paternity leave.

A social welfare benefit of €230 per week is paid for the two weeks which would leave most workers short of money at a time when their partner is also out of work.

Employers may, if they wish, top up the payment to the full weekly wage normally earned but employers’ groups warned in advance of the scheme being introduced that the majority of small to medium sized firms would not be able to afford to do this.

The figures show that fathers from all counties claimed their leave, as well as a small number living in Northern Ireland who were entitled because of PRSI contributions paid in the Republic, and just one living abroad.

A county-by-county breakdown of births is not yet available to show where the uptake is highest but a crude comparison of the uptake and population of each county shows some variation across the country. Leitrim comes out top, while Kerry and Roscommon share bottom place.

The scheme still leaves Ireland well behind many of our European neighbours in length of leave allowed and weekly payment.

It is also dwarfed by the provisions for new mothers, who can avail of 26 weeks leave with a weekly payment of €230 plus an additional 16 weeks unpaid leave.