Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the response. To be clear, the Sinn Féin proposal includes the awful situation of stillbirth but goes way beyond that. It would benefit parents who lose a child under the age of 18 years, including following a stillbirth and during pregnancy, irrespective of the length of their current employment. We all know people who have lost children, one of the most awful things to happen to anyone. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a parent to go back to work the same week. It is not right in any way. It is something that needs to be addressed.

As I said, we have asked the Minister to address this for the past three years. The most I can ask for, unfortunately, is a report. I genuinely cannot understand why the Government has not acted on this because I cannot imagine anyone in this room would object to a proposal to give two weeks' paid leave in the awful circumstances where a person loses a child. It is a reasonable proposal and one that should command broad cross-party support.