Dr. Paul Redmond:

Regarding the comparison in the context of paternity leave, the research shows that it is leave targeted at fathers that is important in reducing the gender pay gap, and not necessarily parents or parental leave that either a father or a mother can avail of. As my colleague said, our length of paternity leave is comparable with other countries, but the €250 rate of paternity benefit does not compare. When we look across other European countries and those countries in the EU, it is not unusual for the replacement rate to even be 80% to 100% of the father's income. Therefore, one of the key components in addressing gender equality is to try to address the share of the burden of childcare divided between genders. When we compare Ireland with other countries, this is one area where we find that we are a good bit lower than what is achieved elsewhere. This relates to the fact that we often talk about fathers being less likely, as my colleague said, to take leave. We again see this occurring across the EU, but the latest figures for Ireland show that less than half of fathers entitled to paternity leave take it. We might wonder why that is. As was said, it is because of the cost of living-----