Parents of children born during the pandemic crisis will get an extra three weeks of parent’s leave to offset the impact of having a child during the harshest lockdown measures, under Government proposals approved by the Cabinet on Monday. The move was announced by Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman on Monday evening at a post-Cabinet briefing in response to a Sinn Féin private members’ Bill on maternity leave. The extension from two weeks to five will apply to all new parents once the reforms are approved, meaning an extra six weeks per family for two-parent families. The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) said the measure fell far short of needs of mothers who were on maternity leave during lockdown. She said many women lost out on support of family during maternity leave and babies missed key appointments.

Source: The Irish Times July 13, 2020 19:43 UTC