MINISTER HELEN MCENTEE has called for further reform of the maternity leave structures that exist in Leinster House, after the issue was brought back into focus last week over expenses paid to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.  

Cairns was the subject of scrutiny earlier this month, after the Irish Times reported that she had to repay the Oireachtas €8,500 in expenses paid by the Oireachtas during her maternity leave last year. 

There was no wrongdoing on Cairns’ part, she had informed the Oireachtas she was taking maternity leave and would not be travelling to Leinster House, but despite this, the Oireachtas continued to pay her the travel and accommodation allowance that is given to TDs. 

Cairns said once she realised the allowance was still being paid into her constituency account, she contacted the Oireachtas and requested the payment be paused for the duration of her maternity leave.

Last week, Cairns issued a lengthy statement on social media, largely in response to a second article published in the Irish Times, which was an opinion piece written by Labour Party councillor Joanna Tuffy.

In the article, Tuffy argued that the “confusion” over Cairns’ expenses highlighted “how generous TDs’ leave really is”.

Cairns took issue with Tuffy’s article and noted in her statement that she went on maternity leave a month after legislation was passed on maternity leave for Oireachtas members in October 2024.

She said “no template” was in place and that she assumed the Oireachtas would stop the automatic travel and expenses payment after she informed them she was going on maternity leave. 

“It’s important to say at this point that any story with a politician and expenses in a headline leads people to think there is something dodgy going on,” Cairns said. 

She said that despite the new law formalising maternity leave for Oireachtas members, there is no way under the expenses’ system for a TD to mark herself as absent because of maternity leave. This meant that Cairns had to put in sick certificates to account for her absences or face a financial penalty when she returned to work. 

Commenting on the issue today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee, who was forced to make ad-hoc arrangements for both of her maternity leaves while holding ministerial office as no legislation was in place at the time, said it is “ridiculous” that a TD must submit a sick cert while on maternity leave. 

She said the government must “make the changes that need to be made” to reform the system.

“It’s completely ridiculous in this day and age that somebody who is on maternity leave would have to provide a sick cert to show that they were on maternity leave, and I think we can all agree with that,” she said while speaking to reporters this morning at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“There’s more work that we need to do because hopefully we will see more and more younger women getting involved in politics, more and more people taking maternity leave, and indeed paternity leave as well, where possible, for our male colleagues.

“But we need to just make the changes that need to be made. We shouldn’t have a situation where someone has to provide a sick cert because they’re on maternity leave or they’re going out on maternity leave, quite frankly,” McEntee said. 

Cairns, who is currently pregnant and due to go on maternity leave next month, said in her statement published on her Instagram last week that she is currently seven months’ pregnant and on bed rest. 

“The Oireachtas needs a less confusing system for maternity leave so that a woman… doesn’t have to spend her day explaining it to journalists,” Cairns wrote. 

“And people wonder why there aren’t more women in politics…,” she concluded. 

In a statement today, Labour senator Laura Harmon and Labour councillor Ciara O’Connor expressed their solidarity with Cairns and called for clear maternity leave arrangements for women in political life.