Only a fifth of new fathers are taking their paternity leave.
New figures from the CSO show there were over 63-thousand babies born last year, but just over 12-thousand dads looked for time off from work.
An update to the Social welfare system last September means all new dads are entitled to take two weeks off work and receive 230 euro per week.
There are suggestions that some dads are not aware of their entitlements and that the process of having to get the new public services card and fill out lengthy forms is unnecessarily complicated.
There are calls to make the benefit mandatory to improve uptake, but the department of social protection says there are no plans to do so at this time.
It is running an awareness campaign via the media to try make people more aware of their entitlements.
Employers aren't obliged to top up the payment but they're being encouraged to put administration supports in place to make it easier for fathers.
Nicole Gernon reports:
