Maternity Protection (Child Bereavement) (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-11
============================================================

Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel

I am proud to second this motion and sincerely commend my colleague, Senator Nicole Ryan, for bringing forward this Bill. Senator Ryan has done something really important here. She has seen a gap in the law, listened to the lived experience, decided that it was not right and tried to fix it. As she said, this Bill is about one simple thing, namely, allowing a mother who has lost a child to pause her maternity leave and take it later when she is actually able to benefit from it. That is it. No new leave, no extra cost, just flexibility, dignity and basic compassion.
The death of a child is one of the most devastating things a person can go through. Anyone who has ever spoken to a parent who has experienced that loss knows that life does not just go on as normal. Time stands still. The world keeps moving but the parent does not. Under current law, some mothers are forced to use up their maternity leave during the most acute period of grief when they are simply trying to survive, not recover. That cannot be right. Maternity leave is supposed to support bonding, recovery and well-being. It is not meant to be burned up during trauma. This Bill just recognises that reality. It allows a mother to say she cannot do this right now but will need that time later.
Importantly, the Bill does not reinvent the wheel. We already allow maternity leave to be postponed in cases of serious illness. We strengthened that law in 2024 after listening to families affected by cancer during pregnancy loss and maternity leave. That change worked. It was compassionate and practical and caused no chaos. This Bill simply extends that same common-sense approach to child bereavement. The safeguards are already there. Medical certification is required, clear notice periods apply and the postponed leave must be taken later in one continuous block. This is not open ended. It is careful and proportionate.
Some may say that the number of people affected by this will be small but if even one mother is forced back to work while grieving the loss of her child, that is one too many. We do not measure compassion by numbers. For teachers, healthcare workers and other front-line staff, returning to emotionally demanding work while carrying that level of grief can be so overwhelming. This Bill gives them breathing space and time to heal. It sends the very simple message that the State will not force grief into a rigid timetable.
Again, I commend Senator Ryan on her leadership, empathy and determination to improve the law in a meaningful way. This Bill belongs on our Statute Book because grief has no timetable and our laws should reflect that. I am proud to support this motion on behalf of Sinn Féin but am very disappointed that the can is being kicked down the road for 18 months. I cannot understand that. It is not costing the State any money. We can do it for other circumstances, so why can we not do it for mothers when they lose a child, one of the most horrific things a mother can go through?

---

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