John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It became apparent this morning that the huge delays in maternity benefit payments did not come as a complete shock to the Taoiseach, who was the Minister for Social Protection at the time. In fact, he had been made aware of the delays a full three months in advance. One cannot ignore the fact that this issue was brought to public attention in May, when the then Minister was immersed in a leadership bid. Having 1,300 women on maternity leave without any payment and a further 2,850 claims for maternity benefit pending was hugely inconvenient for the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar.

This morning, through a freedom of information request, we learned that staffing levels within the Department had become unsustainable months earlier and that several warnings had been issued. The principal officer with responsibility for maternity benefits had emailed the assistant secretary general in the Department as far back as 14 February to caution that "unless we get an extra staff injection (and I am saying we need six immediately) we will remain in a position where we are paying far too many maternity benefit claims after the commencement of leave date".

Another document, dated March, shows that the office in Buncrana was down a full 20% in terms of staff levels. The documentation also raises questions about the impact the introduction of paternity benefit in September 2016 had on the Department's capacity. What was the Taoiseach's response to all of this? It was to do absolutely nothing. It was not until the delay in maternity benefit payments made the news in May that the Taoiseach eventually apologised to all the women concerned.

It seems that the Taoiseach and his Government simply do not get it. That was the message which was sent out and which is still going out. The Government simply does not get it. These are not just figures. This impacted the lives of new mothers in a very real way. It caused additional pressure at a time when there is no shortage of pressure. What was the Taoiseach's response? It was a shrug of the shoulders, a scripted apology and total and utter cold indifference. That apology has now been made all the emptier because the Taoiseach stood idly by and allowed it to happen. This shows an alarming contempt for all mothers. The Tánaiste's Government is a nasty government.

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