Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming here, in the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's place, today.

Any of us who are fortunate to have had babies know the immense value of maternity leave. It is a way of society saying to women to take time with their newborn babies.

Approximately 60 women in this country each year are diagnosed with cancer during their pregnancy and, of course, their maternity leave is taken up, not solely with the care of their baby but with the life-saving treatment for themselves. There is a small number, probably running to only a few hundred of other women, who go through serious illness during those weeks and months postpartum.The reality is that they forfeit their maternity leave when they become sick. This situation has been raised for a year and a half by the Irish Cancer Society through its Leave our Leave campaign. It highlights that, in effect, there has been a doubling down of the trauma of not only being diagnosed with cancer and having to go through treatment but then also losing their precious maternity leave after their treatment. There is an irony here because men can defer their paternity leave if they are sick. Any worker who takes holidays is able to defer their holidays if they become sick yet women who become seriously ill in the middle of their maternity leave cannot get their maternity leave back once they get better.

I want to bring the Minister of State back to the Green Party annual convention last October. I am sure he was there. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, gave a very explicit commitment that he would legislate accordingly. He said that he looks forward this year to bringing forward legislative proposals with regard to delivering on the Leave our Leave and amending the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 to ensure that women who are seriously ill during their maternity leave can retain their maternity leave and that it is not forfeited. He committed to doing it before Christmas. That is what he told reporters at the annual convention in Cork. We are now four months on and we have not seen sight nor sound of those legislative proposals.

I appreciate that the Minister has had a very busy first two months of this year but that is no good to the women who were given a very clear-cut commitment last October and who six months on are very much waiting for something from him. We need to see an amendment to section 14A of the Act to ensure that maternity leave is not forfeited when women become seriously ill. We need to hear a clear date when the heads of the Bill will be published and when it will be brought to both this House and the Dáil. We also need a clear date for when the legislation will be commenced. To be frank, this should be very straightforward. This is not a large piece of legislation. There is a huge amount of goodwill and support for such a legislative change. It is just about getting on with it at this stage. Women, the Irish Cancer Society, and all those who know the value of maternity leave, in particular those who find themselves seriously ill during maternity leave, need to hear concrete commitments from the Minister of State here today in this Chamber as to what the Green Party in government is going to do to make good on what was said last October.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Sherlock very much. That is a very important issue.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I too thank Senator Sherlock for raising this very important issue. All forms of family leave are kept under review to ensure that they are effective in supporting families and children. The Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 provide a pregnant employee with six months of paid maternity leave and an additional 16 weeks of unpaid leave. The Irish Cancer Society's Leave our Leave campaign highlighted the difficulties faced by those who are diagnosed with cancer while pregnant or on maternity leave, who then miss out on precious time with their new babies because they are spending their maternity leave undergoing treatment.

The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, met with the Irish Cancer Society to discuss this last year and he announced his intention last October to bring forward proposals to allow for deferral of maternity leave where a mother falls ill during this period. Departmental officials have been considering this proposal and the Minister hopes to bring it to Cabinet shortly. It is planned to bring this forward together with a number of amendments arising out of the Department's review of Ireland's equality legislation and also to take this opportunity to legislate for maternity leave for Members of the Oireachtas. Departmental officials are seeking legal advice on a number of matters before the remaining few outstanding proposals from this process can be finalised and brought to Cabinet. The wider review has examined the functioning of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, and their effectiveness in combatting discrimination and promoting equality.

A major component of this review was a public consultation in 2021. The Department invited written submissions from July to December 2021 and was pleased to receive an extensive response of more than 550 submissions from stakeholders and interested persons. The public were asked for their views on the functioning and accessibility of the Acts; the scope of the current equality grounds; whether existing exemptions should be modified or removed; and whether the legislation adequately addresses intersectionality. A report summarising the key issues raised in the public consultation was published in July of last year, and the proposals are being finalised.

In addition to the proposals relating to maternity leave that I have just discussed, the Government has introduced significant improvements to the entitlements to family leave for working families in recent years. The Government committed in the programme for Government to supporting parents, including by extending paid leave for parents in the form of seven weeks' parent's leave for each parent, to be taken within a child's first two years. Parent's leave and benefit will increase by a further two weeks to nine weeks by August 2024.

Under the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019, which extended both the amount of leave and the time period in which it can be taken, an employee who is a relevant parent in respect of a child under the age of 12 is entitled to 26 weeks' unpaid parental leave for each child. Where a child has a disability or long-term illness, the entitlement can continue until the child is 16. A "relevant parent" is a parent, an adoptive parent, or a person acting in loco parentis.

The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 was enacted on 4 April 2023, and introduces important entitlements for workers, including leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, and the right to request flexible working for parents and carers. The Act also includes provisions to transpose Article 9 of the EU work life balance directive and provide for a right to request flexible working for parents and carers. In addition, the Act includes amendments to the Maternity Protection Acts to provide for the extension of breast-feeding breaks, and introduced domestic violence leave.

In January, the Department published a research report on the experiences of people affected by a loss of pregnancy while working. The Department commissioned researchers in UCC to undertake this research project with the aim of guiding it on how best to support those who experience a pregnancy loss while in employment. The report provides recommendations for policymakers, in addition to information on legal standards and good practice from other jurisdictions. It is the Minister's intention that this report would assist the creation and implementation of policy in this area.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. What is going on here? I see from the reply that departmental officials have been considering this proposal and the Minister hopes to bring it to Cabinet shortly. It is now April. He said he was going to do it by the end of 2023. The Minister of State referred to the pregnancy loss report. We have been given to understand that the Minister is keen to legislate. I would like to hear what is actually happening within the Government. Is Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael blocking the legislation? Has the Minister lost heart in terms of progressing the amendment to the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act, and the legislation relating to leave proposals for pregnancy loss, as raised by the Minister of State in his response? We need to have a clear understanding at this stage as to what exactly is going on within the Government. It is not good enough to say that the Minister is bringing proposals to the Cabinet shortly. Frankly, that provides no assurance to the Irish Cancer Society and to those women. I think of Erica Tierney, Mary Canavan and Emma McGuinness who were so brave in telling their stories about what exactly happened them when they were diagnosed with cancer during their pregnancy. It was such a traumatic time. Frankly, it is not good enough to hear this morning that the proposal will be brought to Cabinet shortly. We need concrete detail from the Minister of State as to when the Bill will be brought to the Cabinet and when it will be commenced so that it can take effect for people out there.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank Senator Sherlock. She is aware of the legislative process and the steps involved in it. The key first step is obviously to bring the proposal to the Cabinet and the Minister has committed to doing that in the next few weeks. The complicating factor behind the Senator's question is that it has been part of a wider review of equality legislation. We want to bring a suite of measures to the Cabinet to make sure we make a comprehensive review and refreshing of the needs of a variety of groups under equality legislation. That has possibly slowed the process down a little bit but we want to do it right when we do it.