Fianna Fáil local area representative for Castlebar, Lisa Chambers, has accused the Government of engaging in a targeted attack on working mothers. This week she raised the issue that €70 million has been taken from maternity benefit in the last two budgets, through a new tax on the benefit this year and a cut in weekly payments next year. She said, “Last year Fine Gael decided to tax maternity benefit for the first time in history. This tax kicked in in July and has resulted in thousands of mothers in Mayo losing up to €2,700 or €450 per month during their 26 weeks maternity leave.”
She continued: “As if this drastic cut wasn’t enough, the Government has gone back to working mothers again in Budget 2014 for more cuts. The so-called ‘standardisation’ of maternity benefit to €230 is in fact a cut of €32 a week for over 90 per cent of mothers, who are on the higher rate of benefit. This is yet another major blow to working women and young families across Mayo. It’s a highly retrograde step, particularly coming on the heels of recommendation from the expert group on early years strategy that maternity leave should be increased from six months to a year. The Government is going in the complete opposite direction by significantly reducing supports for pregnant women and young mothers, and making it more difficult for them to take this important time out of the workplace.”
She concluded, “I am strongly opposed to these successive maternity cuts as I believe it is wrong to target young mothers in this way. I am calling on Fine Gael to reconsider. This cut doesn’t kick in until January, so there is still time to put a stop to it.”
