Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo my colleagues' concerns about that six-month period. If an unborn child is in uteroand the mother is in one of those settings, is that period counted? There is a lot of research that shows there will be effects if a mother is not properly nourished and stressed. I note that many of the women concerned carried out commercial work without pay. Another way of putting that would be that they were engaged in slave labour. If a woman is engaged in slave labour and is pregnant and stressed out, and knows there is going to be a negative outcome, that is going to have serious implications for the development of the child in utero. There is a long-established body of research that shows the negative consequences and outcomes.

Does that period of time apply to children? Does the legislation include that time or does it start to apply from the date of birth?

I wish to echo Deputy Ward's question and hope that Ms McGarrigle will answer this time. Did the Department or Government use expert advice to address these kinds of questions? This matter occurs to me as a parent without any qualifications in the area. In a previous life I was a primary schoolteacher, so I know that a lot of our major software as human beings is installed in uteroor in the first 72 hours. If a mother experiences a trauma during that early period, it can have profound and life-altering or life-limiting consequences on the individual. I think that the six-month cut-off point is arbitrary and idiosyncratic. Is it based on evidence? If so, who supplied the evidence? Will the Department take into account whether the child was there with the mother while she was pregnant? Will that time be counted? Finally, what expert inputs were used to arrive at these arbitrary cut-off points?