Tag Archives: Maternity benefit

SCARIFF-based TD Michael McNamara has described anomalies in maternity benefit as “a penalisation of women for having children”.  In a Dáil debate on policy and legislation, the Independent TD raised the matter with Tanáiste Leo Varadkar, noting the poor rate of maternity benefit in I reland compared to other EU states or other OECD states. “In Ireland, the average proportion of previous earnings that maternity benefit accounts for is 25.2%,” Deputy McNamara pointed out. “It is one of the lowest rates in the OECD and the EU. During the pandemic, people were coming off pandemic payments of €330 per week and being reduced to €250 because they had just had a child. That is a penalisation of women for having children.” Deputy McNamara questioned the Tanáiste on moves to address the anomaly. “There will be a proposal coming to the Cabinet soon to realign unemployment benefits with previous payments and with what people were being paid before they became unemployed,” …

CLARE’S Independent TD has called on government to stop penalising women who have just had children, by offering the a lower payment than they would receive under the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme. Addressing the Tánaiste at Leader’s Questions last week, Deputy Michael McNamara said it was an opportune moment to raise the matter given the historic fact that a cabinet member had just had a baby. Congratulating Justice Minister Helen McEntee and her husband, Deputy McNamara said “there is nothing more hopeful than the birth of a baby”. “We should recall that thousands of mothers across this State, when they went on maternity leave to give birth and bring a life into the world, had their rate of pay reduced from the PUP rate to the maternity benefit rate, which is €245,” the Independent TD continued. “Notwithstanding all the laws we rightly have in the private sector to prevent women from being discriminated against because they, uniquely, give birth, …