Paid parental leave, introduced to encourage greater gender equality, does not meet its policy objective, a Department of Public Expenditure spending review warns.

The relatively new scheme entitles both parents to two weeks’ paid leave in a child’s first year, paid at €245 a week from the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), known as parent’s benefit.

It was introduced in last year’s budget following an EU work-life balance directive to encourage better sharing of leave between parents and to address alleged under-representation of women in the labour market. It is in addition to 26 weeks’ paid maternity leave and two weeks’ paid paternity leave.

As most employers do not top up parent’s benefit, “it is possible to conclude that the scheme does not address the existing disparity in leave entitlements or the low uptake rate of paternity leave.

“As such it is unlikely to support families in the more equal sharing of care responsibilities or address women’s under-representation in the labour market,” says the report.