Council motion on bereavement allowance for working women

SLIGO County Council will call on Minister Heather Humphreys to support a bereavement allowance for working women and their partners to avail of in the event of a miscarriage or stillbirth.

Cllr Marie Casserly brought a motion forward at a recent meeting of the council seeking the support of her fellow councillors.

She said: “This bereavement allowance would give employees three days’ leave when a pregnancy ends in miscarriage or stillbirth, rather than forcing them to use their sick leave. It should be noted that the grief that comes with miscarriage or stillbirth is not a sickness, it is a loss, and that loss takes time – time to recover physically and time to recover mentally.

“Having this law in place would give women the confidence to be able to request that leave if it was required, as opposed to just being stoic and getting on with life.

“This law will hopefully help remove some of the stigma that surrounds miscarriages and allow women to feel more comfortable talking about miscarriage and that they feel comfortable reaching out for support and for help in what is a huge physical and emotional loss.” The motion was supported by Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady, who said that maternity treatment has made great advances in how they help a bereaved parent cope with loss.

Cllr Sinéad Maguire said as a society we need to evolve from our old attitude of “simply moving on”.