Awful as it is, the recession provides an opportunity to change aspects of Irish life for the better.
One idea is to give fathers the chance to spend more time with their children by remodelling parental leave.
Living in Sweden, I was lucky enough to spend 10 months at home with my two daughters. During that time I received about 90% of my usual salary, 80% from the state, topped up by 10% from my employer.
I know people are tired of hearing about how great Sweden is and how well everything works there. I know that I am: I get asked about it all the time. But parental leave is something they’ve got right.
In 2008, Sweden came top out of 25 economically advanced countries in a Unicef report on early childhood care and education. Ireland and Canada came joint-last.
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The authors of the Innocenti Report Card noted that in Sweden, Finland and Norway, out-of-home care is a rarity during the first year of a child’s life.
“In the Sweden of 20 years ago, infant care was heavily subsidised and widely used,” they said. “But with the introduction of 12 months’ parental leave at 80% of salary, the use of nurseries declined steeply and childcare is today rare for Swedish children under the age of 18 months.”
When the Swedish system of föräldraförsäkring came into force in 1974, it gave both parents the right to paid leave. Up until then, only women had that right. Now, parents have a total of 480 days to share between them as they wish, with each having 60 days they must take. If they choose not to, those 60 days cannot be transferred to their spouse.
Initially, men were reluctant to take advantage of this state-funded system. Six years after the reforms were introduced, only 5% of parental leave was being claimed by fathers. That figure rose to 17% in 2003, and 22% in 2009, as acceptance gradually increased.
An important point to note here is that the period of parental leave still qualifies as employment in the calculation of retirement and pension rights.
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Researchers have discovered neuroscientific support for the benefits of extended and well-paid parental leave. And, as the Unicef report states: “Such entitlements, in addition to supporting breastfeeding, help to create the conditions for the constant, intimate, reliable, reassuring, one-to-one interaction with parents that all infants need.”
Of course, in the current financial climate, there is no way the Irish government could afford to imitate the generous Swedish system. What could be offered to Irish fathers, however, is the opportunity to take 60 or 90 days’ parental leave, and to be replaced at work by someone from the Live Register.
The benefits to families would be twofold. First, of course, more men would spend time with their children, taking a more active role in their formative years. Many Swedish men I know timed their leave to coincide with the Olympics or the European Championships, thinking they’d spend it in front of the television, but the reality turned out quite differently.
The second benefit is to the family of the unemployed person who becomes their replacement. Many would jump at the chance to show what they can do and to keep their skills sharp, even just for a few months.
How payment is handled is a matter for the government, employers and employees to work out, but there are a few possibilities. The person on parental leave could have their salary reduced somewhat, with the difference added to the unemployment benefit paid to their replacement. Any shortfall in income for the person on parental leave may be somewhat offset by a reduction in childcare costs during the period.
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The effect for the unemployed person taking up the temporary role should not be underestimated. I got my first break in the Swedish job market when I did maternity cover for a woman having her first baby. Given the chance, I worked as hard as possible to show what I could do, and when she returned I was kept on.
There is always the argument that some people are irreplaceable — doctors and gardai are usually cited — but this seldom turns out to be true. The sad fact is that, even though our absence or departure might cause disruption, none of us are indispensable.
Philip O’Connor is a sports journalist based in Sweden and the author of A Parish Far From Home