Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before we rise, I express my thanks to Deputy Cairns for facilitating the Minister, Deputy McEntee, through a pairing arrangement during her maternity leave. I know she is grateful for that, as we are too. Let us ensure in the next Dáil session we put in place some more permanent arrangements. In future I hope many more Cabinet Ministers will give birth while in office. I look forward to seeing the Minister, Deputy McEntee, return in October or November.

I will follow up the issue with the HSE and the Minister for Health. The national guidance is that partners should be able to attend the labour ward and the neonatal intensive care unit, NICU. They should be able to attend important scans such as the 20-week scan. As partners, fathers in the main, increasingly become fully vaccinated over the next few weeks, this really ought not be a problem anymore. Certainly, by the time we return after the summer recess, all partners should be fully vaccinated. Let us try to get this sorted over the next couple of weeks.

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