Sinn Féin councillor with young baby not entitled to maternity leave

The Government has been accused of double standards after calling for more gender equality in politics while discriminating against young female politicians by refusing to provide them with maternity leave.

A young Cork county councillor has discovered that if she took more than six months off work to look after her baby, she would be barred from serving on the local authority. However, if she was off work due to illness, she could keep her public representative job.

Cllr Danielle Twomey (SF) won total support from her male and female colleagues when she called on the county council to write to Housing and Local Government Minister Eoghan Murphy demanding that he conduct a legal review of article 37 of the Local Government Act, 2001.