Ireland’s flat rate system for maternity, paternity and parental leave is a “lose-lose” for families and the State, according the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
It was commenting after research showed a very low uptake of such leave by new fathers in Ireland.
The report from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows “the social welfare system has to reform to reflect the reality of modern family life”, Ictu said.
Only half of fathers avail of paternity leave and a quarter of men take parent’s leave compared with two-thirds of mothers, the study showed.
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“What the report shows is that unless their employer tops up the benefit payment here, and there is no legal requirement on them to do so, few fathers can vindicate their right to time off work to care for their babies at one of the most expensive times for a young family,” said Laura Bambrick, Ictu’s head of social policy.
Like the 26 weeks of statutory maternity leave to which women are entitled, both parents are paid at a flat rate of €289 per week.
Each parent is entitled to up to nine weeks of parental leave during the first two years after the birth of their child, although this was only seven weeks at the time the data for the study was compiled.
The report, written by Claire Keane, Anousheh Alamir, Frances McGinnity, Richard O’Shea and Helen Russell, found a strong link between income and take up of leave entitlements. Women, they found, were more likely to avail of additional unpaid maternity leave where employers provided top-up payments.
Paternity leave take-up was linked to salary levels, with the authors suggesting a likely link to employer-provided top-up payments or an ability to take the cut in income for the two weeks.
When it came to the longer parental leave, the report suggests, the low flat rate is more likely to cause an affordability issue, with take-up actually falling with increasing salary; and where the mother was the higher earner, fathers were found to be more likely to use parent’s leave. Single parents were generally less likely to take it up.
At nine weeks, parental leave entitlement in Ireland is well below both the EU and OECD averages, while paternity leave is marginally shorter. The rate paid in Ireland for all three types of leave is lower than across many European states – substantially so in many instances.
Carly Bailey of One Family Ireland also highlighted the flat rate issue and the challenge it causes single-parent households. She said the organisation also wants the Government to extend the same level of State supported time to single parents as couples currently receive.
“The entire point of these policies,” she said, “is to enable parents of infants and young children to spend as much time with them as possible because that is in the best interests of the child.”
Pointing to the differences between entitlements in Ireland and the OECD averages, the National Women’s Council said entitlements here are “outdated, and meaningful reform is needed to promote gender equality in both work and home life”.
What the report’s findings point to, said Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University, Pauline Cullen, is the “incredible power there is in compensating people properly for providing care. If you do that, you send a really powerful message that care is valued.
“There is such great potential to send that message by improving the benefits available, although you could certainly do more educative stuff too – more positive messages about care, some of it directed at men and boys.
“We are having a bit of conversation these days about ‘toxic masculinity’, and that’s important, but continuing to talk about everyday masculinity is an important conversation too.”
