Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I support the amendment. With maternity benefit, I know more mothers are giving false dates of delivery in order to have access to the entire period of maternity leave after the birth of a child, as opposed to being obliged to take two weeks of it before the child is born. This is a dangerous practice. Nevertheless, with the pressures of work, it happens regularly. This tells us that the amount of time available after the arrival of a child is not sufficient. Deputy Morgan's proposals are more realistic. The Minister of State stated that he is taking the maternity leave model but because of that legislation's attachment to the mother solely, it could be found unconstitutional at a later stage. We are tying ourselves into this model. I believed the adoptive and parental leave Bill was about bringing us into line with the Scandinavian model in how we treat parents and how they develop a relationship with infants.

It is a good idea to extend the period to 26 weeks. Like Deputy Morgan, I would prefer it to be extended to the first 12 months of a child's life. It is not only experts in the area of child rearing who recognise the benefits of a child being with either parent for the first year of his or her life. Parents themselves recognise it and want to be with their children but, because of the pressures of modern living and the cost of housing, they find it difficult to do so on a voluntary basis. I think the amendment is worthwhile and I support it.

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