Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 June 2025
181. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of people who have availed of parents benefit in each of the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form; the number of mothers and the number of fathers who have availed of parent's benefit in each of these years; his views on whether further steps can be taken to encourage greater uptake of parent's benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32966/25]
View answerThe number of people who have availed of Parent’s Benefit in each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 is set out in the table below, along with breakdown by gender:
|
Year |
Parent's Benefit Claims Awarded |
Female |
Male |
|
2022 |
60,178 |
39,751 |
20,427 |
|
2023 |
62,883 |
40,135 |
22,748 |
|
2024 |
66,518 |
41,781 |
24,737 |
Up to the end of May 2025, 42,331 claims have been awarded. As Parent’s Benefit can be claimed in separate periods of minimum one week up to the maximum of nine weeks, we cannot provide an accurate number of unique recipients and gender breakdown until early 2026. Figures for applications this early may not give a complete picture of the overall gender break down for this year.It is worth noting that the proportion of fathers availing of Parent’s Benefit has increased steadily over this period - from 33.9% of total claims in 2022 to 37.2% in 2024 indicating a positive trend in shared parenting responsibilities.The Programme for Government commits to “introduce Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit and explore other payments where a similar model could be applied.” Work is ongoing within my Department to examine potential models for a Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit. One aim of examining a pay-related approach, is to support more parents to avail of their full entitlement.I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
