Number of stay-at-home dads rising

While the vast majority (98%) of those who were looking after home/family in 2016 were women, the CSO figures show the number of men looking after home/family nearly doubled in the 10 years up to 2016, rising from 4,900 to 9,200.

Benny Finlay, from Kilmeaden, Co Waterford, is one of those stay-at-home dads — he gave up his job as an auctioneer when his wife Hazel was about to return to work after having their second child.

“I was up and out the door before the kids and I was home at 7pm or 8pm,” says Benny, 38. “I got to see them for an hour a day. It wasn’t working for us. I was coming home and bringing the stress of work with me.