Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is absolutely no passing of the parcel. Last week, I told the Deputy the truth, that is, that the legislation is equality legislation. If the Deputy does not take my word for it, which seems to be common practice every time we have an interaction, she only has to Google the legislation to see it is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality. I will outline where the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection kicks in. Those who have the contributions qualify for the benefit for the duration of their 26 weeks' maternity leave. Unless there is a change in the legislation, there cannot be a change in the payment. Right now, the legislation, which is owned by the Department of Justice and Equality, states 26 weeks. The Deputy will be aware that even if we had the collective will to change the legislation, we could not do so because we do not have a new Seanad. Let me outline what we have done in our Department in recent weeks to reassure the women. If their jobs opened up last Monday in the first phase and they were not able to go back to work even though their maternity leave had finished, they were absolutely entitled to apply for the Covid payment. Many of them did.

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