I am going to read one woman’s account of her postnatal care: At my 6 week post natal check, the consultant who had delivered my baby asked me only about contraception. There were no questions about my mental health, my emotional state, or how I was coping. I left that appointment feeling invisible and unheard. Like I was just a vessel that had to ‘get on with things’. After giving birth, mothers are faced with a countdown. Six weeks of postnatal care. Six-weeks of check-ups. Six weeks, and then you are on your own. Life with a newborn does not become easier after those six weeks. For so many women, it becomes even harder. postnatal depression, anxiety and overwhelm can build up over months. When sleep deprivation accumulates, when your partner goes back to work, when supports fall away and when you start to feel invisible and unheard, everyone expects you to just get on with it. Of course, all of these are immeasurably harder for single parents. This is the reality that is being highlighted by Aolish Gormley and the Year of Care campaign. Those involved are asking for something very simple, namely for the Government to finally prioritise mothers. There is no strategy for supporting mothers' physical and mental health in their first year after giving birth. With postnatal appointments largely ending after six weeks, mental health supports are inconsistent, inaccessible or entirely absent. Paid leave ends months before many women have physically or psychologically recovered. The maternity and infant scheme which outlines postnatal care in Ireland has not been updated since 1997. That is 29 years ago. The long-promised review has been endlessly delayed. An entire generation of women have been born, are having children and are going through the same old creaking system as their mothers did. The standard of postnatal care in Ireland is far below what is available in other countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite the incredible work of midwives and other staff in our maternity services, our system does not represent best practice. It does not embody the reality faced by mothers in 2026 and it does not reflect everything we know about the importance of the first year for mother and child. What makes this more frustrating is that the Government has already acknowledged so many of the flaws in the system. Many of the solutions are contained in the national maternity strategy, which is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. I ask the Taoiseach to follow through and to recognise that birth has a profound impact on women's health and well-being far beyond six weeks, and for the State to finally step up and help mothers through that first difficult year. I am asking him to deliver a mother and baby unit so that getting mental health support does not mean being separated from one's baby. Will the Government produce a strategy to expand physical and mental health supports to mothers for an entire year after birth? We have been waiting on a review of the maternity and infant scheme for ten years. It is supposed to be ready in quarter 1 of this year. When will the report be published?

Sentiment score: 0.11

I thank the Taoiseach. I acknowledge that the postnatal hubs delivered through Sláintecare do excellent work. The point that the care campaign is highlighting is that those services need to be expanded massively to address the mental health gaps in postnatal care. It is clear that it has not been prioritised to the extent that the Taoiseach just laid out. There is evidence of that in fact that is it has not been reviewed in 29 years. I specifically asked about the review of the maternity and infant scheme. It was supposed to be ready in quarter 1 of this year. When will it be ready? The Taoiseach mentioned the mother and baby unit in his reply. When will that be delivered? Is it planned to have more than one in Ireland? We are far behind other countries like the UK on this. The care campaign is not calling for anything radical. We need our maternal health care to be evidence based. We need to recognise the immense physical and mental toll giving birth takes on people. We need to expand supports in that regard. We need to expand paid leave to cover the first year of a child's life. We need to modernise the maternity and infant scheme, and to implement the national maternity strategy.

Sentiment score: 0.30