Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Today is international pregnancy and infant loss remembrance day and I want to highlight it in the Dáil on behalf of all of the people we know who have experienced the pain and loss of losing a baby at an early, middle or late stage of pregnancy, during birth or in the immediate neonatal period. We all know that the shock and pain of losing any family member is one of the worst of life's experiences but there really are few traumas or sadnesses like the loss of an infant. What compounds it is that it happens so often in private and in secret and without the usual recognition we get for losing family members. I want to highlight it today.

It was very heartening to see so much being made available for the national maternity strategy in the budget and I thank the Tánaiste for this. Will he highlight within it the importance of sensitivity in communication by doctors? As a medical professional, he knows how important this is. I have spoken to many women who have gone through this without the sensitivity of medical professionals or public health nurses and without follow-up mental health supports.

See this speech in context