Women will not lose out on maternity leave entitlements due to illness in the months after they give birth under proposed legislation brought to Cabinet on Thursday.
Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman is briefing Ministers on the planned Maternity Protection Bill which will also bring in maternity leave provisions for TDs and Senators.
Speaking in advance of the Cabinet meeting, Mr O’Gorman said: “This is an important piece of legislation that will make provision for allowing women who become seriously ill during their maternity leave to defer that maternity leave for up to a year.”
He said it is a response to the Irish Cancer Society-led Leave Our Leave campaign, which highlighted the number of women every year who lose time with a newborn during their maternity leave because they are undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment.
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The legislation will cover cancer and other serious physical and mental health illnesses.
Mr O’Gorman said it will also make provision for women Oireachtas members to take maternity leave, adding that it is an “updating of Irish law that I think we all recognise is long overdue”.
The legislation will also be used to make amendments to the Employment Equality Act to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of discrimination or sexual harassment.
Mr O’Gorman said this measure will come in a committee-stage amendment in the Dáil.
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Separately, the Green Party leader responded to the news that more than €1.4 million was spent on a security hut at Government Buildings saying it was “deeply frustrating”.
The spending on the Office of Public Works (OPW) project emerged at the Oireachtas committee on finance and public expenditure on Wednesday.
OPW officials were before the committee to be quizzed on the controversial €336,000 Leinster House bike shelter.
Office of Public Works chairman John Conlon revealed that the security structure, which has a sweeping copper roof, cost €1.429 million.
He said he did not believe the cost of the hut is excessive, given the “hidden” work carried out related to security and communications needs.
“I’m in the middle of my budget negotiations with Minister [for Public Expenditure Paschal] Donohoe at the moment, and we know that every cent has to be fought over,” said Mr O’Gorman.
“So it is deeply, deeply frustrating for me as a Minister and indeed for many other Ministers who are looking to get greater investment into key public services, into key public infrastructure, when we see situations where it looks like public money hasn’t been well spent.”
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