MINISTERS FAIL RADIO CRÉCHE COURSE IN PLIGHT OF YOUNG MUM
A MOTHER-of-three has taken ministers to task over being forced to spend three months ‘earning nothing’ between the end of maternity leave and getting access to a crèche place.
Áine Monaghan, a scientist from Dunboyne, Co. Meath, plans to go back to work once her three-month-old turns one and can go to a crèche.
However, she says inadequate Government maternity funding will leave her facing three months of earning nothing before then.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Áine said that the Government has given ‘really no response’ to the plight of working mothers like herself.
‘We might have to defer our mortgage while I’m on that unpaid leave,’ she explained, ‘which will just give me more interest to pay off.’
She raised the issue with Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe on yesterday’s traditional post Budget phone-in on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, but she was far from pleased with their response.
Mothers in Ireland are currently entitled to take seven weeks of paid parental leave, as well as six months of maternity leave.
This means that mothers can take paid leave until their new baby is seven months old, with the option of taking another month of holiday on top of that.
However, crèches in Ireland only take children once they turn one – leaving working mothers forced to take three months of unpaid leave in the interim.
In that period, Áine said: ‘I’ll be earning nothing.’
While Áine is relatively lucky to be able to dip into her savings, she says that she has friends who are facing much more difficult situations.
She said: ‘I have two friends who have recently had babies.
‘One still lives at home with her parents because they can’t afford to have a mortgage and childcare fees and they have two kids.
‘They didn’t give me any solution’
‘The other has to go back after eight months, and her partner’s mother and father are going to take the kids for four months, until a crèche place becomes available.’
She criticised Ministers McGrath and Donohoe for a lack of solutions.
‘He just said that they have brought in two weeks’ parents’
leave which starts next August, which won’t really benefit me going back to work in July,’ she said.
‘They didn’t give me any solution as to how I’m supposed to pay my bills for those three months.’
Minister Donohoe said he ‘appreciated that there’s a gap that will be difficult to fill’ but added that they’ve tried to help in other ways.
The Fine Gael TD said the rate of maternity benefit will be going up by €12 per week from January, while parent benefit has now been extended by a further two weeks from August 2024.
But, as Áine was quick to point out, that won’t benefit mothers now.
Áine says that if the Government cannot come up with a solution, working mothers should be able to claim social welfare for the period before they’re able to get a crèche place.
‘Something needs to be done,’ she said.