LESS APOLOGISING MORE ACTION ON MATERNITY BENEFIT
Labour Women is calling on Minister Varadkar to spend less time buttering up Blueshirts and more time running his department.
Chair of Labour Women Sinead Ahern commented: “It’s shocking that there are 2,850 claims for Maternity Benefit waiting to be processed, with 1,300 of these already on maternity leave.
“Minister Varadkar seems far more focused on flashy ad campaigns and billboards designed to cement his right wing credentials in advance of the Fine Gael leadership race than actually ensuring the smooth running of his department. Coupled with recent decisions to place the new National Maternity Hospital in the hands of a religious order and to halt plans to hold inquests into maternal deaths these revelations are yet another clear indication of the lack of respect the Fine Gael government has for women and mothers’.
“The payment of maternity benefit is incredibly important to women, children and families; for many mothers this is their only income while on leave. It is simply unacceptable that women caring for new babies have been left without financial support at this important time and we are calling on Minister Varadkar to focus his energies on rectifying this situation immediately.”