Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2021-10-06
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

On the same issue, as we speak, people are gathering outside for the march for maternity to call for an end to restrictions on partners attending maternity services. This has been a consistent call from families for more than a year now. Women are separated from the partners for much of their labour, visiting hours are still severely curtailed and partners are still banned from attending antenatal scans. How much of this a person is subjected to is still a complete geographical lottery.
The situation is now growing so farcical that from 22 October, a person will be able to attend a nightclub but partners will still be told to wait in the car park when they arrive at a maternity hospital for the birth of their child. What is the Government's response to the many women outside the Dáil right now and the many protesting remotely, some of whom are doing so from maternity hospitals? They are saying that the Government urging hospitals to do something simply is not good enough and obviously is not working. The question, therefore, still remains - who is in charge and what is the Government going to do about this?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-10-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-10-06