Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I raised the Labour Party's campaign for paid leave for women who experience pregnancy loss and for employees accessing reproductive healthcare. Today, I want to raise a related matter.

After a strong campaign from the Irish Cancer Society and affected women and their families, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, committed to bringing legislative proposals to Cabinet before Christmas to support pregnant women who experience serious illness. At present, women in such a situation must use up their maternity leave to cover treatment. It is really welcome that the Minister agreed to act on this, but we still have had no sight of the proposals, and time is running out before the Christmas recess. I have been contacted this week by women who are affected by the current lack of legislation. We do owe it to them to resolve this issue. Could the Taoiseach provide a timeline for a legislative amendment to ensure that women have their full maternity and sick leave entitlements in such situations? Being mindful that we are up against it on time, will this proposal come before Cabinet in advance of the Christmas break? The Irish Cancer Society, in particular, is very anxious about this.

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