Minister wants parents of newborns to get a year of paid leave

Roderic O'Gorman was speaking as legislation was passed to allow women who undergo treatment for cancer or other serious illnesses to postpone their maternity leave until their treatment is complete

Currently, mothers are offered 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, while fathers are entitled to two weeks of paternity leave. File photo

The children's minister wants to see a full year of paid leave rolled out to the parents of newborn children.

Roderic O'Gorman has also said that his party will be campaigning to increase the rate of State payments received by parents who take this leave.

"We need to extend maternity leave benefit, we need to extend parents leave and benefit and we also need to increase the rates at which these are paid," he said.

Currently, mothers are offered 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, while fathers are entitled to two weeks of paternity leave. Both parents are also able to avail of nine weeks each of parents benefit, bringing the total leave supported by the State to 46 weeks. Mr O'Gorman wants to bring that up to 52 weeks.

"There's the capacity for at least 52 weeks after the birth of a child that one or other parent has a paid leave to enable them to support the best engagement with their child so that they can balance their working commitments and their home life commitments.

"We know that that first year is absolutely crucial for the child's development, and the government should be able to support both the terms of offering the leave, but also offering it at a rate that's attractive," he said.

Cancer and maternity leave

Mr O'Gorman was speaking as legislation was passed to allow women who undergo treatment for cancer or other serious illnesses to postpone their maternity leave until their treatment is complete.

"This is a small, simple change, but it's going to have a big impact for many women, and it's something that I'm very proud to have been able to progress," he said.

Around 60 women each year in Ireland go through cancer treatment during pregnancy or postpartum.

A two-year campaign highlighted the deep injustice these women endured by missing out on precious bonding time with their babies, and the discriminatory fact that men had the right to defer paternity leave if unwell. The legislation will also benefit many other women who fall seriously ill during or just after pregnancy.

The #LeaveourLeave was spearheaded by three women: Erica Tierney, Mary Canavan and Emma McGuinness, who all underwent cancer treatment whilst on maternity leave.

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Speaking after the Maternity Protection (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provision Bill was passed, Ms Tierney said: “It’s almost impossible to articulate the meaning of this change to families going through pregnancy and serious illness at the same time. 

"When I was so sick and juggling chemo with being a new mam, discovering I couldn’t keep my maternity leave for when I felt better literally felt like another huge blow, in a time when what I needed was extra support. 

"I’m beyond ecstatic that this change is now a reality and no one going through cancer and pregnancy will also have to endure the loss of their maternity leave. They can bank on having that time back with their baby when the gruelling treatment is done."