Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD has welcomed that a proposal will go to Cabinet tomorrow to end the exclusion of women returning from maternity leave from the Temporary Wage Scheme.  

She said:

“Several weeks ago, I wrote to the Taoiseach and other party leaders highlighting the fact that women returning from maternity leave were being excluded from the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme on the grounds that – despite being employees – they were not on their employers payroll on 29th February 2020. We have repeatedly raised this issue with the government and in the Dáil.

“Pearse Doherty and I set out a straightforward solution to end the exclusion of these women which involved the Minister for Finance instructing the Revenue Commissioners to change the measure on an administrative basis pending the necessary amendment to the legislation.

“Despite the Taoiseach and Minister saying they couldn’t act as they needed new legislation, it now appears that they have accepted Sinn Féin’s proposal. This is a victory for common sense.

“It is welcome that a proposal is now going to go to Cabinet and this will come as a great relief to the women affected. Undoubtedly this comes as a direct result of women across the country speaking out and demanding an end to this discrimination.”