Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party is very happy to wholeheartedly and unequivocally support the motion from the Green Party this evening. We congratulate it on bringing this forward and Deputy Catherine Martin on a compelling contribution. I am glad that the Government will embrace the objective and thrust of this motion and ensure that it is enacted into law as quickly as possible. I also join in the welcome extended to the people in the Gallery, who are here to ensure we get the message. There is no doubt mothers across Ireland are watching us carefully to ensure that we reflect their views.

I welcome this motion because it matches many of the commitments of the Labour Party to improve maternal care in Ireland. A mark of a country is how it treats pregnant women and cares for families at times when pressures can be extremely stressful and daunting for all concerned.

In the wake of a number of terrible preventable tragedies, Ireland has made some progress in advancing the rights and protections for pregnant women with the enactment of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013. Much work remains to be done and we need to implement the recommendations of the national maternity strategy. My colleague, Deputy Sean Sherlock, raised in the House two weeks ago the fact that many mothers in our country still cannot get access to 20 week foetal scans. Deputy Sherlock's amendment to the Health (Amendment) Bill 2017 would have seen every pregnant woman in the State guaranteed foetal anomaly scans regardless of their geography. Currently only a third of women in Ireland are getting access to these critically important scans.

We also need to ensure higher compliance with internationally recognised ratios of staff to patients and that means hiring more obstetricians, gynaecologists and midwives. We have to build new maternity hospitals, replacing Limerick, Holles St., the Rotunda and the Coombe, and we need massive capital expenditure in those areas. We need to introduce a new health and well-being approach to prenatal and post-natal care with the establishment of specific mother and baby clinics within primary care centres.

In government we provided for two weeks of paid paternity leave and it is time to consider extending this to incorporate the circumstances of premature babies. The next policy change we want to see is the provision of three months' paid parental leave on top of existing entitlements. These months could be shared between both parents to ensure that every child can be properly cared for in the family home over the first nine months of life.

The Minister provided an extra €5 weekly increase in the budget, which was welcome. We also believe it is time to commission a review of the level of payment given for maternity, paternity and parental leave to ensure they remain sufficient for the needs of modern families. The Minister might consider that proposal, alongside this motion.

Many of us have received letters and e-mails over the past week from mothers and fathers who are parents of pre-term babies. I thank everyone who communicated with us on this important issue, which reflects the benefits that this significant change will have when enacted. These people are simply asking for help during what is a difficult time and want to ensure they get to spend the maximum time possible with their babies.

I also congratulate the charity, Irish Premature Babies, for their advocacy work on this. They have a very simple goal, to support families when they are going through one of the most difficult journeys in their life, with their tiny baby in a neonatal intensive care unit. They are asking to extend the period of statutory maternity leave and maternity benefit for mothers of premature babies by the length of time between the delivery date of the baby and either the date the baby would have been delivered, if full term, or the date of the baby leaving hospital, whichever is the later. It also calls for this extension to be in addition to the current entitlement to 26 weeks' maternity leave and maternity benefit and the additional 16 weeks' unpaid maternity leave under the Maternity Acts 1994 and 2004. We are talking about extending maternity benefit and leave by the number of weeks by which a baby is born early so that the mother gets to spend that time, when often a baby is at its most vulnerable, with her baby.

Every year nearly 4,500 babies are born prematurely, that is before 37 weeks' gestation. It is important to say that in the context of nearly 70,000 births per year we are talking about just 6% of births in Ireland. In total it is not a lot of people but for those parents it is the beginning of what can be a difficult, demanding and worrying, long journey. It is tough enough being a new parent without the worry, stress, fears and concerns that come with a premature baby, and the stress that puts on a family. Significant costs are also incurred, including for accommodation. As the Minister will know, maternity benefit begins immediately when a baby is born prematurely. Very often, expecting mothers go on leave two weeks before their due date but the mother of a premature baby does not have that time. The law currently gives 26 weeks' paid leave and a further 16 weeks' unpaid leave but the law does nothing to take into account babies who are born early. Some premature babies can spend months in hospital, leaving a very short time for a mother and her new baby to bond when they get home. It is not unusual to spend up to four months in hospital, leaving just two months at home for the mother and baby, due to the rigidity and inflexibility of our legislative framework.

There is a provision in law already, namely section 7 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004, that allows the postponement of maternity leave in strict circumstances, that is, if a baby is hospitalised. As has been pointed out, however, there are difficulties with this for various reasons. An employer has the right to refuse a postponement. In addition, the postponement does not take into account a mother's health status, and the possibility that she may be unable to return to work after surgery or illness. Moreover, many pre-term babies are transferred from their local unit to one of the four tertiary neonatal units with specialised neonatal care for the tiniest and sickest pre-term babies and most parents will leave their home in these cases and follow their baby to the transferred neonatal unit. It is not plausible for a mother to return to work if she is miles away from her home.

The case is clear for changing the law. There is much more I can say but the Green Party, in particular Deputy Catherine Martin, has outlined the relevant points of the motion. The Minister for Social Protection is due to bring a social welfare and pensions Bill to the house soon and I encourage him to consider bringing in this important change at that stage. This change will be administered by the Department of Social Protection so there is no need to put it on the long finger. We are not talking about a lot of money here as the full-year cost would be approximately €5.4 million. The Social Insurance Fund is on target and unemployment is falling rapidly, with Department of Social Protection spending for the first three months of the year €26 million below target. A simple amendment to the PRSI benefit scheme would accommodate this very important and desirable change. I am sure the Minister could find a few bob down the back of a sofa in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada to fund this without any undue difficulty. This is a measure that would be of immense help to mothers across Ireland and would be widely welcomed. If he is not prepared to do it now, I urge the Minister at the very least to ensure this is included in next year’s budget this autumn.

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