Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

I thank the Taoiseach. I acknowledge that the postnatal hubs delivered through Sláintecare do excellent work. The point that the care campaign is highlighting is that those services need to be expanded massively to address the mental health gaps in postnatal care. It is clear that it has not been prioritised to the extent that the Taoiseach just laid out. There is evidence of that in fact that is it has not been reviewed in 29 years. I specifically asked about the review of the maternity and infant scheme. It was supposed to be ready in quarter 1 of this year. When will it be ready?
The Taoiseach mentioned the mother and baby unit in his reply. When will that be delivered? Is it planned to have more than one in Ireland? We are far behind other countries like the UK on this. The care campaign is not calling for anything radical. We need our maternal health care to be evidence based. We need to recognise the immense physical and mental toll giving birth takes on people. We need to expand supports in that regard. We need to expand paid leave to cover the first year of a child's life. We need to modernise the maternity and infant scheme, and to implement the national maternity strategy.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10