Fathers should have the right to two weeks of paid leave following the birth of their child, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.

The Department of Justice is currently drafting a Family Leave Bill, which is expected to consolidate access to various forms of statutory leave into a single piece of legislation.

At present fathers have no right to paid or unpaid paternity leave. However, much of the public sector and some private sector employers provide fathers with up to two weeks of paid leave following the birth of a child.

Ms Fitzgerald said men should be given the chance to play a more active role in caring for their children.

While she said there were economic challenges facing any enhanced right to leave for parents, she would seek support from other members of the Government to improve paternity leave.

“Families now have different expectations and changing parenting roles than previous generations. The majority of fathers are keen to play an active role in family life. We should support this better sharing of caring duties.”

Sharing of leave

Ms Fitzgerald also told The Irish Times she supported proposals to allow for the sharing of leave by mothers and fathers, subject to certain conditions. This shared-leave approach, first introduced in Norway and Sweden in the 1970s and 1980s, has been adopted by a growing number of jurisdictions including the UK.

The Minister said while the Government supported the principle of such flexibility, details of how it would operate required further consideration.

“I favour an approach whereby the mother remains in control of the leave but can decide to share some of it after the compulsory period with her partner.

“Such a flexible system would help to create a system of parental leave that works for modern lives and respects a family’s right to choose how to care for their children.”

New Bill

It is unclear whether both proposals – paid paternity leave and shared maternity/paternity leave – will feature in the new Bill.

Minister of State Kathleen Lynch – she has been involved in talks on the proposals – said much work remained to be done. She, along with Ms Fitzgerald, expressed concern that any approach could “water down” existing maternity leave.

Any sharing scheme should involve an extension to the current maternity leave, which stands at 26 weeks’ paid leave, with an additional 16 unpaid also available.

Ms Fitzgerald said finding the money for these kinds of measures would be hard, whether in the public or private sector.

“We mustn’t start there. It’s our duty to aim at the ideal, not be halted by negative possible implications.”

Prof Peter Moss from the University of London said policymakers needed to reflect on what kind of leave Irish society wanted for families and what the rationale behind these measures should be.

He suggested that Ireland could consolidate all existing leave – including parental leave – and follow the Icelandic “birth leave” model, which provides equal entitlement to leave for both parents.

It has five months of maternity leave, five months of paternity leave and two months of shared leave. The parent receives about 80 per cent of their income during leave, subject to certain conditions.