Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
18. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of claims, by county, in 2025 for maternity benefit, paternity benefit and parents benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15029/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraMaternity Benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women, who are eligible for Maternity Leave. Paternity Benefit is a payment made for 2 weeks to employed and self-employed parents who are eligible for Paternity Leave.
Parent’s Benefit was introduced in November 2019. It provides each parent with nine weeks of non-transferrable leave to be taken within two years of the birth or adoption of a child and is available to employed and self-employed persons who are eligible for Parent’s Leave.
In 2025, my Department received almost 43,000 applications for Maternity Benefit, over 30,000 applications for Paternity Benefit and almost 94,000 applications for Parent’s Benefit. My Department awarded over 41,000 Maternity Benefit claims, almost 30,000 Paternity Benefit claims and almost 96,000 Parent’s Benefit claims.
My Department does not collate statistics on applications by characteristics, such as the county of the applicant, but does produce these statistics for recipients. According to the data published by my Department, 29,460 people received a Maternity Benefit payment in Q4 2025. On an individual county basis, Dublin had the most recipients at 8,300, while Leitrim had the fewest at under 200, representing 28% and 1% of total recipients respectively. The Deputy's own county, Kildare, had 1,800 recipients, or 6% of the total.
8,000 people received a Paternity Benefit payment in Q4 2025. Again, Dublin had the highest number of recipients at 2,100, and Leitrim had the fewest under 50, representing 27% and 1% of total recipients respectively; 500 people from Kildare received a payment.
25,700 received at least one Parent’s Benefit payment, with Dublin accounting for 6,200 of these recipients.
I will arrange for a table of detailed statistics to be sent on to the Deputy.
