Maternity laws in Ireland must be immediately changed if the State is to nurture a sufficiently large young workforce to provide for its ageing population, a TCD sociologist has said.
Calling for longer maternity leave, paid paternity leave and policies to support women breastfeeding in the workplace, Dr Jo Murphy-Lawless of the Centre for Women's Studies at Trinity College Dublin said yesterday that these issues affected the current and future shape of Irish society, including its economic potential.
She said the statutory 14 weeks' maternity leave given to mothers in the Republic was the bare minimum required under EU regulations. "But the minimum is not sufficient and we will pay a price, economically as much as socially, if we do not recognise this stark fact," she said.
She said one fifth of women of child bearing age in Europe were now choosing not to give birth at all. "The stress and expense, the lost opportunity costs appear not to be worth it for these women," she said.
She added that the results of a survey of 30 working mothers, carried out on behalf of the Employment Equality Agency last year, indicated a lack of support for breastfeeding women returning to work, concern among women about the impact of motherhood on promotion prospects, and difficulties in finding childcare.
Dr Murphy-Lawless said the expansion of the economy meant the State was in a prime position to examine the problems facing working mothers.
"It is an investment in our futures. If we do not make that investment we do not have a good future ahead of us. Italy is the example here, with a birth rate which has fallen through the floor because women no longer see the benefit of having families.
"We need flexibilities built into the workplace. It's just vital for the Government to give the lead on this . . .
"There are good models available to us. There are Swedish and Finnish models. East Germany before the GDR broke down had better models of childcare than we have in Ireland now. That's a scandal. We just need desperately to get it together," she said.
Dr Murphy-Lawless was speaking at a conference in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, on how best to support new mothers at work.