Only half of fathers take paternity leave, a new report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the ESRI has revealed. 

All parents are entitled to take some time off from work after the birth of their child. 

“We examined the usage of different child rated leave in Ireland - maternity, paternity and parent’s leave,” the ESRI’s Dr Claire Keane told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“Paternity leave is two weeks that fathers are entitled to in the first six months of the child’s life. 

“Then parent’s leave is nine weeks that both parents can use in the first two-years of a child’s life.” 

Despite this, few fathers take their legal entitlements, leaving mothers to do most of the childcare. 

“Consistently, only around half of fathers are actually taking up their two weeks’ paternity leave,” Dr Keane said. 

“Then we examined parent’s leave and we found only around a quarter of fathers use their parent’s leave. 

“And that’s compared to around two-thirds of mothers.” 

The reports suggest that one way to increase the uptake of paternity leave would be for the State to increase the social welfare paid to fathers who take time off work to look after their children.

Main image: A father playing with his baby daughter. Picture by: Ljm/Design Pics via ZUMA Wire.