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THE GOVERNMENT HAS said there are no plans at present to introduce a system of paid paternity leave for male workers after they become fathers.
Joan Burton said there were no plans to introduce a system where new fathers would be given two weeks’ paid leave from their jobs after the birth of their child.
The minister said such a system would have “significant cost implications for employers” as well as for the State and the social insurance fund.
She also said the payment of such a benefit would require the justice minister Alan Shatter to introduce new laws establishing such a right in the first place.
Currently the fathers of children are entitled only to parental leave, where they can take a period of up to 18 weeks off work – unpaid – in respect of children aged up to 8 years of age.
There were 72,225 children born in Ireland last year – meaning, in theory, that two weeks of paid leave for each father could mean 722,250 working days lost to the economy.
The latest CSO figures show 991,600 males were working in Ireland at the end of March – or 56.2 per cent of the total number of males over the age of 15, bringing the actual number of days lost to 406,300.
This is the equivalent of the full annual workload of 1,750 people – or around 0.095 per cent of the total Irish workforce.
It could therefore be expected that the Irish economy would lose €154.4 million of output.
With the most recent CSO figures also showing average weekly earnings at €696.59, the lost hours of work would cost Ireland’s employers around €56.6 million in pay.
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Half a billion for than 20 miles of road.
This is HALF of what it costs in urban areas of the US. Half.
Just plain mismanagement and probably corruption.
We Irish can’t do big projects.
@Chris O’Brien: was thinking the same,but also 200 million in 21,and now 450 million 2 years later
@Chris O’Brien: So it costs 1 billion in the US??
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Didn’t spot that, nice one.
@Chris O’Brien: what corruption are you talking about??
@Liam23: The corruption in his head.
@Chris O’Brien: great country:) Al Capone was less of a gangster than the shower running this country he’d be amazed he was a joke next to them
Single carriageway roadway….Wow let’s celebrate like its the 1930s. Perfect proactive solution not to include passing lanes on new construction. Car with trailer max speed 80km; car behind it max speed 100 with no safe area to pass, what could go wrong? Solution they come up with rather than acknowledge their failure is to reduce speed limits to 80 for all. Simple decisions designed by simple minds.
@Irish Conservative: Completely new road and area relatively flat so road should be straight enough, similar to Ballagh/Charlestown bypass. Overtaking slower traffic should not be a problem with a bit of common sense.
@Bert Carolan: It is usually the volume of on coming traffic that creates the problem for passing. Single carriageway roads are Seven times (7x) more dangerous compared to dual lanes per Road Safety Foundation. Building passing lanes to alleviate congestion safely is common sense.
@Irish Conservative: If your stats are correct then fair point, though I do think we have a tendancy in this country to blame roads and speed limits for accidents rather than driver behaviour.
They should continue the M4 all the way to all the way to Sligo and be done with it. Small-minded thinking again, like we don’t want any of those 10-story skyscrapers in Dublin.
God they were depressing towns to go through…all the same I’ll miss them..
@hi from heaven: Strokestown not bad. I won’t miss the stretch of road, you could be stuck behind a truck for miles.
Take a detour through Clondra and it’s 3 bridges sometime just to see what the main road used to be like.
@hi from heaven: well I won’t miss them, has to be the worst stretch of road in the country
@Bert Carolan: Took a trip just now, thanks Google Streetview and oh my! It was barely designed for an ass and cart!
13.2 million a kilometer…. Is it the heated road or something.
@JJ Dolan: in fairness there will be no bends in it. Straight as f%ck, like whoever builds it.
Watch whoever gets the contract milk the taxpayers like a prize cow. I’ll bet the same road could be built abroad for a fraction of that cost. We have a reputation as being prime for riding when it comes to construction, we just bend over every time
More than doubled in price! Will probably cost €600 million. The country is run by buffoons!
@Fred Coloe: not fair on buffoons
@Fred Coloe:
True but then the guy who but I the bid of €200 million went bust……
I’d be more concerned that the contract is a bit more water tight than the children’s hospital one.
It didn’t really double in price… same as the childrens hospital, they low ball and then add on extras..
Only difference is road bridge bluff was called on a couple of projects that they had done previously and hence went bust..
@hi from heaven:
Bullseye
€450m…..So the final cost will be closer to €600m
Something wrong with the costings here for a Single Carriage Way Road, the new 30 Klm A6 Derry to Dungiven Dual Carriage Way has just been completed at a total cost of £250 Million Stg, which is a lot cheaper per Klm than it is in the South.
It would be nice to get a breakdown on where the money goes. How much to planners, how much to engineers, ect
Will have to make Strokestown detour for chips in Antonelli’s …
Taking the aul roads in I see
The money was all spent on archaeologists, ecologists, planners and lawyers – the “make work” crowd. People need to remember that money spent by the government goes somewhere – it doesn’t just go into a black hole – it goes towards paying labourers, digger drivers, quarries, tarmac contractors, plant hire companies, engineers, fuel suppliers, mechanics and a lot of the local shops will see a lot more trade during construction. SO this money goes into the economy – OUR economy, it helps stimulate economic growth, it helps people put food on the table and pay their mortgages, it provides employment in an area of the country that has suffered underinvestment for generations. It’s about time the NW got some of what Munster & Leinster have – capital expenditure and investment.
have your say