Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While male employees are not entitled under law to either paid or unpaid paternity leave, they may be entitled to parental leave. Parental leave entitles parents who qualify to take a period of up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave from employment, generally in respect of children aged up to eight years. While there is no provision for a social insurance based payment for periods of parental leave, employees may be entitled to credited contributions to maintain their social insurance record for the period.

The introduction of paid parental leave, or paternity leave, would have significant cost implications for employers, the Exchequer and the social insurance fund. In addition, introducing a paternity benefit payment would depend on establishing an underlying entitlement to statutory paternity leave in the first instance and would require legislation on the part of the Minister for Justice and Equality. The potential for introducing paternity leave was formally considered in the review of the Parental Leave Act, published in 2002, but the working group concerned did not reach a consensus. Similarly, a working group set up under the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, examined the provision of support in this area but did not identify an agreed way forward.

The Department is also in regular contact with the Department of Justice and Equality regarding issues on maternity, adoptive and health and safety leave. In these ongoing contacts general issues regarding the provision of supports for fathers are discussed. In this context, the potential for development of the already substantial supports provided for parents are kept under review.

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