Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Solidarity supports this motion from the Green Party. The position of women who give birth to premature babies is not satisfactory and it highlights the lack of provision in general for pregnant women in this country. As the motion points out, a woman can defer her maternity leave but that is completely impractical given the fact that premature babies will often be in neonatal units and are more likely to have health complications. The women themselves are also more likely to require medical attention.

There is also a strong class and poverty dimension to premature births and the Institute of Public Health has stated that socioeconomic deprivation is independently associated with both premature delivery and babies being born underdeveloped. Children born to mothers in the lowest income group are 42% more likely to be born light than those in the highest income group so the need for a provision for such mothers is clear. In Britain the Trades Union Congress, TUC, carried out a survey of maternity leave in EU member states. It defined decently paid maternity as two thirds of income, or €1,000 per month. Ireland is one of only three member states which does not have decently paid maternity leave. The rate of maternity benefit is just €235 per week for six months and there are 16 weeks unpaid leave. While the Labour Party is supporting this, when Deputy Joan Burton was Minister for Social Protection in 2014 she cut maternity benefit.

We are calling for a number of measures that would immediately improve the position of mothers and fathers. The emphasis on unpaid leave is extremely unhelpful and puts low-paid working women at a distinct disadvantage. It also puts single women at a distinct disadvantage, which is why Solidarity is critical of the newly announced policy of the Social Democrats with its emphasis on unpaid leave for six months. We believe maternity leave has to be paid leave. Maternity benefit is also far too low and Ireland does not link maternity benefit to a person's income. The payment should be raised to at least €300 immediately.

While researching for this debate I was informed by one woman that she had to fight hard to get her employer to pay her a top-up which she was owed. She was initially refused and the employer told her it would lead to a rash of pregnancies in the company. It should be mandatory for employers to top up maternity leave but currently only 38% of bosses do so. These are generally larger workplaces where there is a union whereas low pay, precarious, non-unionised workplaces are less likely to have these arrangements.

We also call for more leave for fathers because currently paternity leave is just two weeks. That is not adequate and the practice in other countries includes shared leave.

However, shared leave should not be done in a way that takes away from a woman's leave which must be a guaranteed amount.

There is a major gender inequality in sick leave and pregnancy rules. Workers who have to take leave due to pregnancy - no woman who has been pregnant has not had some complication - must take their sick leave from their general sick leave entitlement. Unfortunately, the EU despite what we hear backed up a case taken by a woman a couple of years ago. There is clear discrimination against women and it puts them at a distinct advantage to men. There should be a separate sick leave allowance for pregnancy-related illness.

In Ireland a woman is also entitled to maternity leave if she has had a miscarriage after 24 weeks' gestation but nothing if it is before this time. Those are some of the issues.

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