Written answers
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Employment Rights
Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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1276. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will commit to expanding statutory leave entitlements to those who experience pregnancy loss under 24 weeks; the steps his Department has taken to progress policy in this area since the publication of ‘PLACES | Pregnancy Loss (under 24 weeks) in Workplaces: Informing Policymakers on Support Mechanisms’ in January 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1661/25]
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth commissioned a qualitative research study to examine the workplace experiences of parents coping with pregnancy loss. The study, ‘PLACES | Pregnancy Loss (under 24 weeks) in Workplaces: Informing Policymakers on Support Mechanisms’, examines whether policy interventions are required at a national level to better to support these bereaved parents in the workplace.
The study focuses on people who experience pregnancy loss prior to 24 weeks’ gestation, as people who have a pregnancy loss after 24 weeks’ gestation can avail of full maternity leave and paternity leave entitlements.
The research report was published on the 26th January 2024, with the recommendations arising from this study helping to inform Government policy in respect of this issue. Officials in the Department are currently in the process of developing the next National Strategy for Women and Girls, and the research will inform this work.
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