17. (1) An employer shall make a record of the paternity leave of his or her employees indicating the period of employment for each employee and the dates and times in respect of which each employee was on paternity leave.

(2) A record of paternity leave made under this section shall be retained by the employer concerned for a period of 8 years after the relevant paternity leave is taken.

(3) An employer who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class B fine.

(4) Where an offence under this section is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, commits an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(5) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (4) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of the body corporate.

(6) Proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by the Workplace Relations Commission.

(7) If a person is convicted of an offence under this section the court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing, order the person to pay to the prosecutor the costs and expenses, measured by the court, reasonably incurred by the prosecutor in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence, including costs incurred in respect of the remuneration and other expenses of employees, consultants and advisers.

(8) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851, proceedings for an offence under this section may be instituted within 12 months from the date of the offence.