Call for paid maternity leave for all women in politics
Updated / Friday, 12 Mar 2021
15:21
Female politicians have called for wide-reaching legal and constitutional reforms to ensure all women in politics are guaranteed paid maternity leave after the Government confirmed Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will take six months leave from April.
Coalition and Opposition politicians said the welcome decision in support of Minister McEntee should be mirrored in all levels of politics - with one TD saying she was asked for a sick cert when she had a baby shortly after being elected to the Dáil.
Yesterday, Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin told the Dáil that Minister McEntee, who is pregnant with her first baby, would be allowed to take six months of paid maternity leave from 30 April.