Maternal Mental Health Supports: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-11 ============================================================ Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the House. I commend my colleague, Senator Nessa Cosgrove, on leading on this motion and for all the work she has put into it. I am proud to be part of the cross-party group of Labour, the Social Democrats and the Green Party here in the Seanad. This is sending a powerful message today from Seanad Éireann that we need comprehensive care for mothers for the year following childbirth, not just the first six weeks and the initial period. It is really welcome that the Government is not opposing this motion and will supporting. That is testament that we can work together on both sides of this House. We really think this is a positive step forward. This is the first motion from our cross-party group and we have brought several Bills. We are really pleased to see this motion is being supported by all of the women and men in the Seanad. I commend Aolish Gormley, founder of the campaign A Year of Care. I have been following that campaign online and I encourage anyone to follow that. She has been pioneering on this. She is a mental health advocate and she founded the local initiative, Ardú which is a maternal mental health project in Sligo. Her Year of Care campaign is a national advocacy effort calling for improved postnatal care for mothers during that first critical year after birth. Postnatal care in Ireland has long been neglected by the State. The first year after giving birth is a critical time in a mother's life. We feel the current provision of care does not reflect this and we absolutely need to change that for women and for children. I want to commend the Minister of State on her work in relation to this area and the renewed emphasis that has been put on this. We need to see that continued. Additional support and check-ups are proposed as part of this motion, both physical and mental. This is a no-brainer in the pursuit of supporting mothers across this State. We know from research from the Royal College of Surgeons in 2024 that 77% of women in Ireland experience feelings of loneliness during pregnancy and early motherhood. We urgently need to see resourcing of community based supports for this. Our motion calls for this in all areas across the country. Loneliness is one of the biggest issues facing new mothers and support centres like this would provide families the opportunity to build these communities. My colleague, Senator Cosgrove, in bringing this motion forward is honouring the tireless work done by Aolish Gormley in Sligo and her vision is clearly reflected in our calls in this motion. It calls for the expansion of services beyond the existing maternity and infant care scheme. The law surrounding the maternity and infant care scheme have remained stagnant since the 1990s. We are calling for the funding of mental health services in a way that is accessible to new mothers and the provision of resources such as community support networks throughout the State. Aolish's campaign proposes innovations like publicly-funded pelvic floor therapy and support for Caesarian sections as standard through the HSE. We must recognise that helping each individual mother to thrive will not just benefit her but will benefit the people close to her and her baby and older children. It will support communities and society more widely. We hear too often stories from women when they go to seek healthcare that they feel they are not being listened to in relation to women's health. They feel they are often gaslighted, not taken seriously or that they have to say multiple times what is wrong with them before they are taken seriously. This needs to change. We need to speak more as a society about women's health issues. Best practice abroad shows us the way parents can be uplifted to perform their role to the best of their abilities. We must learn from the likes of the Netherlands and Denmark on the ways maternal health is championed and leave is funded effectively to support the mother, the child and the mother's role as a worker in our society as well. In many cases issues arising after birth can prevent women's re-entry into the workforce if they wish to re-enter the workforce. That places them at a disadvantage to their male counterparts. This is a women's rights motion. This is a women's healthcare motion and is certainly about equality. The Minister and the Government must intentionally resource the proper sectors to bolster women going through this transition into motherhood. We need to support mothers in every way we can, be they first-time mothers or no matter how many children they have. No pregnancy is the same and it can be different for women every time they give birth and their experiences in relation to that. I think this sends a really powerful message here today. We are really pleased there is support across the House for this motion. It sends a clear message from Seanad Éireann to Ireland as a whole that this is being taken seriously and that women's maternal health is being taken seriously in our society. We need to do everything we can to continue to support and advocate for this. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-11/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:37+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-11