‘Fulfil your pledge to maternity leave mums with cancer’
Senator asks O’Gorman to ‘get on with it’
THE Equality Minister is under pressure to honour commitments he made last year to introduce maternity leave protection for women undergoing cancer treatment.
However, no such proposals have since been brought forward to Cabinet by Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
Last year, he committed to advancing legislation that would protect the maternity leave entitlements for those going through cancer treatment as a result of pressure from the Irish Cancer Society’s Leave Our Leave campaign.
Around 60 women a year are diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy and their maternity leave period is often consumed by life-saving treatment. A two-year campaign by the Irish Cancer Society highlighted the stories of women who lost out on using their maternity leave to care for their newborn baby due to the impact of their illness. Labour Senator Marie Sherlock raised the issue in the Seanad, calling on the Minister to ‘make good your commitment to mothers with cancer,’ but no legislative proposals have been progressed so far. ‘Men can defer their paternity leave if they are sick. Any worker who takes holidays is able to defer their holidays if they become sick yet women who become seriously ill in the middle of their maternity leave cannot get their maternity leave back once they get better.
‘This should be very straightforward. This is not a large piece of legislation. There is a huge amount of goodwill and support for such a legislative change. It is just about getting on with it,’ Senator Sherlock said.
Minister of State in the Department of Equality Joe O’Brien told the Seanad that Departmental officials have been examining the legislative proposals that the Minister will bring to Cabinet ‘shortly.’
He said it will be brought in with other amendments arising from the Department’s review of Ireland’s equality legislation, along with legislation for maternity leave for TDs and Senators.
‘Departmental officials are seeking legal advice on a number of matters before the remaining few outstanding proposals from this process can be finalised and brought to Cabinet,’ Mr O’Brien said. The junior minister added that it would be brought to Cabinet ‘in the next few weeks’ and the ‘complicating factor’ was that it is part of a wider review of equality legislation. This has ‘possibly slowed the process down a little bit but we want to do it right when we do it.’
Averil Power, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, called on the Government to prioritise the legislation in this term of Government, and to separate it from the broader equality package. She said the Irish Cancer Society is
‘This should be straightforward’
‘anxious’ that if the plan to protect maternity leave for those undergoing cancer treatment is part of a wider package of equality measures, it will be ‘guillotined’ when an election is called.
‘We will be starting from scratch again, and another 60 women will be forced to use their maternity leave to cover cancer treatment and recovery,’ she said. ‘This isn’t right; this is a real issue that is causing real heartache. Working mothers in this acutely unfair situation should not have to wait any longer for change.’