The State’s preference for paying child benefit to mothers rather than fathers amounts to 'discrimination in parenting', one Dad has argued. 

Child benefit is paid monthly to a child’s mother or stepmother - unless the child lives with their father. 

On Lunchtime Live, Aaron said he had applied for the benefit and was taken back by the response from the Department of Social Protection. 

“A week after, the claim got rejected but not for all the regular reasons like missing pieces of paper or missing out on the details,” he said. 

“It was rejected because I submitted it with my details - as the father of the child.” 

Aaron described this as “frustrating” but said it is not the first time he has been treated as a second class parent by society. 

“I feel like I’m being missed out on purpose by the creche, the public nurse, the GP,” he said. 

“Everyone seems to go to my wife by default - even though we specifically asked them to reach out to me directly because I’m the only one who drives. 

“I felt frustrated, I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know if this only happened to me or if it was happening to somebody else.” 

A mother with her children dinner at a kitchen table. Image: Barry Anson / Alamy Stock Photo

Afterwards, Aaron posted on Reddit and the thread was inundated with posts from hundreds of fathers who had had similar experiences. 

“It’s about discrimination in parenting,” he said. 

“So, every institution expects the mother to pick up the child or to be the primary contact of a child. 

“This is a massive issue here in Ireland where many fathers who want to step up, who want help out and who want to share responsibility in the household, they are almost not allowed… due to systematic discrimination - I might even call it sexism where only women are expected to do some of these activities. 

“Also, social stigma in some social circles where [there is a view] that fathers shouldn’t be taking part in some of these duties.” 

Man plays with two children in bedroom, all laughing. Image: Panther Media GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

Another father, Mick, told the show that he too had been “very surprised” to hear that child benefit is generally paid to the mother. 

“It wasn’t a massive deal for us or anything like that but it was a very surprising thing to learn,” he said. 

“I think if you talk to people in the legal sphere, they’ll tell you there’s a reason why it’s there in that there were many cases down through the years whereby fathers would be brought to court for withholding payments and things like that.”

Child benefit is €140 a month per child and is a universal payment - meaning it is paid regardless of a parent’s income or PRSI contributions.

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Main image: A mother and her children. Picture by: Alamy.com