Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, to the House. I recently called to a constituent who explained that her daughter was born with a serious birth defect. She literally requires 24-hour care, seven days a week. She made a simple point to me. In her case, where she must constantly supervise her child, would it not make more sense for her to be given extended paid maternity leave? If she had left her baby in hospital to be looked after, she argued, it would have cost the State a fortune. Instead, she was doing the State a service by taking on the enormous responsibility of looking after her daughter, constantly. Yet the State is, in effect, giving her a slap across the face by not giving her extended paid leave.

As it happens, she works for the health board, so that she is in a better position than many other people might be in the circumstances. I thought it was a very valid point she raised. I do not have any children, but I am appreciative of her position, based on the experience of my sister, whose son has a serious allergy complaint. He required an enormous amount of supervision and care for the first few months of his life. It would make sense in the case of a baby born with a serious birth defect that the normal paid maternity leave should be extended to allow the mother or father to look after the child properly.

She also made the point that the domiciliary allowance is a pittance relative to what she should normally be getting. I want to put on record the fact that she is saving the State money by minding her baby at home. The Government should give serious consideration to this proposal. It does not necessarily affect her personally because she is a public sector employee and is lucky enough in that sense. I was struck by the amount of care and effort she put into looking after her child. The State should recognise that and should allow people the option of getting paid maternity leave in such serious cases. She has not slept a full night since the baby was born. The State should look seriously at this proposal.