Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second the Deputy's proposal that we write to the Department and Cork County Council to try to get answers for the petitioner. Is that agreed? Agreed.

P00048/24, "Request for an Oireachtas committee to consider extensions to maternity, adoptive, paternity, parental and parents leave in the case of multiple births", is from Mr. Christopher McCann. The petition states:

I request the referral to an appropriate Oireachtas Committee to proactively consider extensions to current entitlements in relation to maternity, adoptive, paternity, parental and parents leave in the case of multiple births. Ireland has no material provisions in place in the event that a family has multiple births to support caring responsibilities. Many other European countries have provisions including the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland and Spain.

In 2023, the HSE began publicly funded fertility treatment services. Statistically, women who undergo fertility treatment have multiple pregnancies (twins, triplets, or higher-order multiples) at a significantly higher rate than women who conceive naturally. Studies quote ranges as high as 40% of fertility treatment related pregnancies resulting in multiple births compared to the natural occurrence rate of 2% in the general population. Research in this area outlines significantly higher levels of financial hardship in the case of multiple births and that twins and triplets experienced higher levels of material deprivation, and their families are more likely to separate or divorce. There is a realisable opportunity for the State to significantly strengthen protections/entitlements (with relatively minimal cost to the Exchequer) and to become an exemplar in this area.

Before submitting the petition, Mr. McCann attempted to contact the relevant Ministers and Departments. The secretariat wrote to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth seeking a response advising of its views within 14 days and received a response from it on 26 June 2024.

The committee recommends that we publish the response from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and that the correspondence from that Department be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Do members have any views, or is that agreed? Agreed.