TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has spoken movingly about his experience of not being allowed with his partner for when she was pregnant during Covid.
The Sinn Féin TD from Cork was emotional as he pleaded with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Dáil to increase access for partners in hospitals during pregnancy during the pandemic.
He slammed as “a fraud” efforts by the Government to address the problem so far.
Mr Ó Laoghaire said: “There is much talk at present about things reopening, and rightly so.
“It is very welcome.
“I do not oppose it.
“However, with all these areas reopening, maternity hospitals are still denying access to partners.
“One can go to shopping centres and, from next Monday, one can have a meal outdoors or go to a museum, yet a partner cannot be present with a woman during the labour and when she is giving birth.
“What is worse is that the Minister and the Government are trying to present a minimal, tiny level of access as a major reopening.
“It is a cod.
“It is presenting the problem as if it has been resolved.
“Yes, there are some that are even further behind, but in all instances the level of access is totally unacceptable.
“It is a fraud.”
Mr Ó Laoghaire then came close to tears as he described his own experience.
“Just before last Christmas, my partner, Eimear, had an emergency appointment with the early pregnancy unit because she was bleeding.
“I waited outside in the car park, looking up at the window of the early pregnancy unit waiting room.
“It was as close as I could get.
“I am glad to say that everything was okay, but we were worried.
“If it had not been okay, Eimear would have had to face that appointment alone.
“She would have got that bad, devastating, earth-shattering news alone.
“The situation is still the same today.
“If a couple in that situation, worried about the same thing, goes to any hospital today, tomorrow or next week, the partner must stay outside the hospital door.
“That is an outrage.
“Whatever about a year ago, hospital staff are now vaccinated.
“Increasingly, pregnant women are vaccinated and many partners will be vaccinated too before long.
“That is welcome.
“Partners and expectant mothers almost always come from the same household and present the same Covid risk.
“There is no justification.”
