Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and congratulate Deputy Catherine Martin on tabling it. I attended today's briefing and some very moving and emotive circumstances apply to these people, some of whom have come into the Gallery. Obviously, we support the motion and regard such extension of maternity leave as a very practical aid for families and particularly mothers dealing with a traumatic time in their lives. I echo everything that was said; of course we should 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 the date the baby would have been delivered if full term was achieved.

I reiterate the point made by others that in general we should do more for mothers and families. It has always been a deep irony that many in this Government and previous Governments who profess to be pro-family and pro-life often fall short of seeing a regime that actually does its best to support mothers and families. Deputy Burton cutting maternity benefit in the previous Government is one of the worst recent examples of that.

We come in at second from bottom of all European countries in the number of weeks of maternity leave and the amount of maternity benefit we grant. A British academic study found that an employee generally receives about 66% of her normal earnings or more but that is not what happens here and certainly not in the private sector. Private sector employers have no obligation to pay women any top-up while on maternity leave. That also must change.

Instead of making employers do as they do in other European countries the State steps in to pay €235 a week in maternity benefit for 26 weeks. While, of course, this is correct, pressure should be applied to private enterprise to pay up for maternity leave. In fact, sometimes it is the opposite. I know many women whose contracts were not renewed because they fell pregnant. It is very difficult to prove, but it often happens to women in this country in this day and age. We do not really legally enforce maternity pay. I believe private capitalists are being let off the hook and they should be made to pay their share.

We support a woman's right to choose and that is on the record of this House. That means the choice to have a child or to terminate a pregnancy. Making the choice to have a child means that society has to put proper economic, social and health care provision place for the mother, the child and the family in general. Unfortunately, based on the country's record of homelessness and the number of families in hotels every night, this is not the case. That is the sort of thing we need to aspire to. Deputy Catherine Martin's motion plays some role in moving towards that. I am not surprised that this is coming from someone on the pro-choice side. I congratulate Deputy Catherine Martin on tabling the motion.

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