The minister published legislation yesterday to give parents the opportunity to take two weeks parental leave from November. However, figures already show around 60pc of men do not avail of existing paternity benefits.

Despite this, Ms Doherty is insisting the additional leave will be a non-transferable benefit, meaning each parent will need to ‘use it or lose it’. Ms Doherty says the decision to make the payments non-transferable is crucial to stimulating a debate around the roles of fathers. She said “traditionally caring in the home has been viewed as a female responsibility”, but that should not be the case.

“There’s a construct here about a narrative that the value of money associated with the scheme isn’t enough for men to take off work. It doesn’t seem to have stopped women from taking maternity leave for time immemorial, because it’s exactly the same amount of money,” Ms Doherty said.

The minister said some people have argued the low uptake is because women earn less than men, but “lots of women who earn a hell of a lot more do”.

Last year, Fianna Fáil put forward legislation to allow new parents to share leave in a way that suits the family situation. However, Ms Doherty said the ‘use it or lose it’ basis of parental leave “will help incentivise fathers to take more time off work to care for their children than has been the case up to now”.

“I think we need to break down those stereotypical roles, and if more fellas do it, whether it is parental leave or paternity leave, I think that will start to remove the taboo of the traditional role of caring for babies,” the minister said.