Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Women are an afterthought in many instances, but particularly with regard to healthcare. Over the decades, time and again we have seen scandal after scandal in women's healthcare. That must stop now. It is unacceptable for maternity care to be pushed to the margins as we move out of lockdown. While golfers are back on the greens and we will be able to drink a pint outside from next week, pregnant women are once again forgotten. I have been contacted by many mothers and fathers who have been damaged as a result of this. One woman told me she gave birth in my local hospital in Galway last June. She was alone for most of the labour while her husband sat in the car park, also alone. He spoke about the devastation of dropping her off, alone, and waiting for her outside. I am sure the Minister can accept that this caused a great deal of stress for both parents. She said: "I was alone in the bath for hours without the company of anyone, just a midwife to check on me every so often". These are harrowing words. I was also contacted by a father who missed the birth of his child as a result of the restrictions.

The Government must act and end the restrictions. The CEO of the HSE has said that the conditions are right to end maternity restrictions and the CMO has said there is no good reason to continue the restrictions. However, three weeks later I still cannot get an answer from University Hospital Galway as to why it is continuing the restrictions. It refers to when active labour is initiated. I am not told what active labour is.

Labour is labour, and that includes early labour. Induction of labour is labour. Early labour is labour. They have not specified at what point in labour partners may attend. I am blue in the face trying to get an answer to these questions. In University Hospital Galway, partners are only allowed to visit between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. and only for half an hour in the neonatal intensive care unit. This does not go far enough. Fathers are not visitors. They are parents who are as responsible for their child as the mothers and their support and presence during the first days of their child's life are essential.

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