New parents (other than the birth mother) are entitled to paternity leave following birth or adoption of a child.

There is no obligation under Irish law for Employers to pay for it. This is at the discretion of each Company. Therefore, employees on Paternity Leave are entitled to claim social welfare benefit during the period of Paternity Leave.

Each Company should provide paternity benefits that fully comply with Irish legislation. Similarly, the Company policy should inform employees of their entitlement. To contractual and statutory paternity rights and also to ensure those rights are understood.

The Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 provides for statutory paternity leave of 2 weeks. Employees can start it at any time within the first 6 months following the birth or adoption placement.  The legislation is not confined to the father of the child and the Act provides for same sex couples on an equal basis with other couples.

An employee can choose to take paternity leave at any time in the 26 weeks following the birth or adoption. They must notify their employer in writing that they intend to take it and provide their intended dates no later than 4 weeks before their leave. The employee will be required to provide a certificate from their spouse or partner’s doctor. Which confirms when their baby is due, or confirmation of the baby’s actual date of birth if they apply for leave after the birth has occurred. The entitlement extends to all employees. Irrespective of how long they have been employed by the company or the number of hours worked per week.

It is ultimately at the employee’s discretion as to when they wish to take the period of paternity leave provided that this is not earlier than the date of confinement or day of placement, as the case may be, and not later than 26 weeks after such date or day.

To sum up, in circumstances where the birth of a child is early (Early Confinement), occurring 4 weeks or more before the expected date of confinement, the parent may still avail of paternity leave, provided that notification is received within 7 days commencing on the date of confinement.

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