Concern is being raised that new dads will not take up paternity leave when it comes into force this Autumn.

From this September, Irish fathers will be entitled to two weeks’ paid paternity leave under a new bill being published today. The legislation will allow new fathers to start the combined package of paternity leave and benefit within the first six months of a child’s birth.

It will also apply to the fathers of newly-adopted children, but not to men whose babies are born between now and September. The Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar said it was necessary to have and stick to a start date.

However MEP Deirdre Clune said that while the move is a positive step, recent history shows it may not encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborns.

She said: “the experience from our European neighbours shows that fathers just don’t take up paternity leave.

“In Sweden when it was initially introduced, take-up was less than 1%. Now they’ve gone and made it a mandatory requirement.

“Germany similarly had very low uptake of 3%. Then they introduced incentives to increase it to 20%.”