Maternity benefit was paid to 5.3% of employees in 2019, a decrease from 5.8% in 2016.
And over half (54%) of women in receipt of maternity benefit in 2019 received a top-up payment from their employer in addition to their maternity-benefit payment.
Paternity benefit was paid to 3.1% of employees in 2019, an increase from a rate of 2.9% in 2018.
Fewer than half (45%) of fathers entitled to paternity benefit did not take it in 2018.
Analysis
The analysis covers maternity and paternity benefits paid from 2016-2019.
Statistician Dermot Kinane said this morning: “Public administration and defence had the highest rate of maternity benefit at 8.3% of employees in 2019, while that same year the lowest rate was in accommodation and food service activities at 2.5% of employees.
“Maternity benefit rates were highest in large enterprises with 250 or more employees.
One in ten (10.1%) women in receipt of maternity benefit in 2018 did not return to paid employment in 2019. This varied from 31.4% for those in agriculture, forestry and fishing to 1.2% in public administration and defence.
The likelihood of a woman returning to paid employment drops with each additional child, particularly for those who have had four or more children.
Income
Of those women who did not receive additional top-up income from their employer, the majority earned less than the weekly maternity-benefit payment amount from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
Just over one in five women (22%) who earned more than the weekly payment amount did not receive a top-up to their income from their employer while receiving maternity benefit.
The rate of take-up of paternity benefit was below 60% that of maternity benefit in 2019.
Paternity benefit, which was available from September 2016, was paid to 3.1% of employees in 2019, an increase on the 2018 rate of 2.9% of employees.
Rate
The highest rate of paternity benefit in 2019 was 5.6% of employees in public administration and defence, while the lowest rate that same year was in accommodation and food service activities at 1.1% of employees.
Paternity benefit rates were highest in large enterprises with 250 or more employees.
Accommodation and food-service activities had the highest proportion of fathers who did not take up the benefit at 57.5%, while education had the lowest at 30.7% during that year.