Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I commend Deputy Kerrane, the National Women's Council of Ireland and all of the mothers who campaigned. It shows what a group of strong women can do when they get together. It is just common sense to extend maternity leave by 12 weeks. The programme for Government talks about extending maternity leave, parental leave and paternity leave. This is the perfect opportunity for the Government to show that it is serious about that and to actually do something about it by taking real action and extending maternity leave by 12 weeks.

It is obviously a very exciting time for people when a new baby comes into the house but those of us who have gone through it - I have taken maternity leave twice myself - will know that it can be a very difficult and stressful time. One can be very anxious. One of the truest saying in this regard is that one has absolutely no idea until one has gone through it and seen how difficult it can be at times. What new mothers have gone through in recent months has been unbelievable. There is the lack of family support and the very practical things we have heard about including public health visits, vaccinations and so on. It makes sense to give mothers a bit of extra time with their babies and time with other children because everything just stopped all of a sudden. Schools and crèches were closed. These mothers had new babies on their hands and potentially other children as well. The reality is that it was very difficult. This is an excellent opportunity for the Government to start on the right note, particularly with the women of this country. It is in the programme for Government so why not make a start now with this motion?

In general, we all want to see maternity leave, parental leave and paternity leave to be extended. This is a good way to start that. The Minister said that this is a very technical and complex matter and that there is no way it could be done but the reality is that anything is possible if there is political will. That is what is lacking. The political will to do this is not there.

The announcement of the three extra weeks of parental leave was a bit disingenuous. People were contacting me today who thought that they would at least have an extra three weeks at the end of their maternity leave, which might be due to end in the next couple of weeks. They actually will not have it until after November at the earliest. It makes no sense to ask people to send their new babies, who have not been exposed to anything and who have only been at home, to crèche facilities, if they can get one, when we are all wearing masks and sanitising our hands. If the Government is serious about addressing these issues, this would be a good start and a good way to show it is taking the issue seriously.

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