Self-employed fathers to receive state-funded paternity leave

Ireland’s self-employed professionals and soon-to-be fathers will be interested to note they are now entitled to state-funded paid paternity leave.

More than a quarter of a million self-employed fathers will be able to take two weeks off work and receive €230 a week from the Government once a ground-breaking new paternity legislation is enacted in September.

At present, self-employed mothers can already receive maternity benefit from the Government, but there is no payment available at present for fathers.

Self-employed fathers can take unpaid leave from work after the birth of their child but most opt not to take time off as they are their own boss and need to maintain an income without support from the State.

Taoiseach, Enda Kenny also announced plans this month to introduce a further two years of shared parental leave, which can be availed by fathers and mothers in next year’s Budget.

Subsequently, self-employed fathers could take up to four weeks’ paid maternity leave by the end of next year.

Social Protection Minister, Leo Varadkar, believes the new paternity payment scheme will go some way to bridging the pay gap between PRSI workers and the self-employed.

Mr Varadkar said that it’s “great to be able to do something for dads” as parenting “is changing and fathers are more and more involved in raising their children”.

“I am also delighted to be in a position to extend paid maternity leave to self-employed fathers for the first time,” added Varadkar.

“Eighty per cent of the self-employed are male and have often been overlooked. This is the first of a suite of benefits I plan to extend to the self-employed, both women and men, during my term of office as Minister for Social Protection.”

Mr Varadkar additionally outlined plans to provide extra support to the self-employed by giving them more benefits in return for the PRSI that they pay. Self-employed professionals do not currently have access to many of the benefits available to other employees and the Government is seeking to change this.

Date published 13 Jun 2016 | Last updated 13 Jun 2016