Maternal Mental Health Supports: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-11 ============================================================ Nicole Ryan (SF), Administrative Panel I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senator Cosgrove and the Cross-Party Group for bringing forward this motion. Anything to talk about women's health is mo ghrá. We are here to discuss postnatal mental health but we cannot do that honestly without recognising that for many women, mental health challenges do not begin at birth. They begin much earlier, often after loss, trauma and complicated pregnancies. Irish and international research consistently shows that prior history of mental ill health is one of the strongest predictors of postnatal mental health difficulties. More recent Irish survey data confirms that women with previous mental health diagnoses or those who experience high risk or complicated pregnancies report significantly higher levels of anxiety after birth. The evidence is incredibly stark. Research published in The Lancet miscarriage series shows that women who experience miscarriage have 2.4 to 2.8 times higher odds of depression and four times the odds of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, compared with those who have not experienced a loss. A large cohort study following women after miscarriage found that nearly one in five met the criteria for PTSD nine months later, with significant levels of anxiety and depression still present to this day. I do not know if many people in the Houses know, but I am currently pregnant. It is my second pregnancy. I am six months into this journey. I found out very early in my pregnancy that I was pregnant. What I did not understand or realise was that when I initially had my miscarriage in 2024, that miscarriage would not just take the pregnancy that I had but would take the joy out of the pregnancy that was to come. When I found out I was pregnant, I did not feel joy and happiness and all the lovely feelings you are supposed to feel. I felt instant fear, dread and anxiety from the moment I tested. I took about 30 tests in the first two weeks because what my body was preparing me for was the worst-case scenario, because that was all it knew during my first pregnancy. I struggled hard with my mental health and was not aware of what was happening. Between all the symptoms that you have in the first trimester and balancing work and pregnancy, and just being so afraid of what would happen, I started to retreat. Any time I was at home, I did not want to go out because I feared that me walking around would do something to harm the pregnancy. I retreated into myself. I stopped talking to people or interacting with anybody. My partner became worried about me so I became worried about myself. It was not normal behaviour for me. I reached out and contacted the mental health department of Cork University Maternity Hospital, CUMH. I did even know that CUMH had a mental health team. From the minute I contacted them, they were amazing. I cannot fault them. I had midwives checking in with me every few days. They would call or text me to see how I was doing before I was able to see a pregnancy loss specialist therapist to help me. Every week was a challenge and a hurdle. I got to 12 weeks and the next thing I was worried about was getting to my next scan, my next appointment. When I got to 23 weeks, my first thought was not, "Wow, I got through the anatomy scan" or "This child is now viable." My first thought was that in the eyes of the State, this pregnancy now mattered and if something were to go wrong, I would get time off and a certificate, which I did not have the first time. Even though I am now allowing myself to feel the joy somewhat, I still worry every single day. Every day, I have to manage myself and my anxiety levels. I cannot even think about the birth because I am already thinking about what if I get postnatal depression afterward. How am I going to support myself? Who is going to support me through this? It is fantastic that the Government is putting money into this because it is so needed for many of us. Women are expected to have babies, carry on, contribute to society, be superwomen, go to work, keep the household running and all of this kind of stuff with the bare minimum of support and the minimum understanding that they are not only carrying all those burdens but that during pregnancy and the transference period, their identity is changing. Women are becoming mothers and taking on new lives and the responsibility of having a living thing that is not a dog in their vicinity. They have children to take care of and shape how they see the world. That is immense pressure for women. It is great that there is more funding and research. We need that continuously in this space. Studies from England show that the rates of postnatal depression in the second year after birth are almost identical to the first year. One study found a prevalence of 15% between 13 and 24 months post partum. The strongest risk factor of all is mental illness in the first year. It is great that we are having this debate. We need more supports and they must be provided for longer. We must think about the long term and consider how we can support women to thrive. Postnatal mental health cannot be treated as a short-term issue because it is not. It cannot be treated as disconnected from pregnancy loss, the trauma that we face and prior mental ill health. This motion is the reality and recognises that, and ensures that women are supported not just to survive pregnancy in birth but to recover, parent and thrive. --- 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