There is no doubt that the Covid-19 restrictions around our society have been hard and necessary. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that the restrictions are fully followed. As we are standing here today, it is quite possible and probable that my county, Donegal, will move into the next stage of restrictions in the coming days, but we will have to wait and see what happens.

There are some restrictions that do not seem to make sense to me and many other people. I am thinking specifically of the restrictions in place in maternity wards. It is nonsensical that partners or husbands of pregnant women are not allowed into the delivery ward with their partner, and doubly so that they are not allowed to attend the 20-week scan and have to sit outside in the car park in many cases. As one constituent put it to me:

Pregnant women throughout the country are currently going through appointments, scans, labour and sometimes even birthing alone in what is arguably the most vulnerable time of their lives. This is especially true for people who get the devastating news that their pregnancies are not viable or those who have to go through a miscarriage without a loved one present. It is unacceptable and not something anyone should have to face alone.

I am expecting my first baby in January and had to receive emergency care at 13 weeks gestation. I was in the gynaecology unit at Letterkenny University Hospital for almost five hours. My frantic partner had to wait in the car park for the duration. He has since missed out on milestone moments like the crucial 20-week anomaly scan.

Another constituent states:

Letterkenny University Hospital are refusing to permit partners to accompany women to their scans and I really do not think that this is justifiable. Anyone can walk through the corridors of the hospital to right outside the door of the foetal assessment unit, which is in the gynae department so it is separate from the maternity wards, and if partners take all the precautions then surely that one staff member carrying out the scan is at no risk. These strict and unreasonable policies are causing such a cruel and unnecessary added anguish to mothers and fathers who are already suffering enough.

This is especially true for people who get the devastating news that their pregnancies are not viable and those who have to go through a miscarriage without a loved one present. The World Health Organization guidelines state that Covid-19 should not impact on a woman’s right to have a partner of her choice with her throughout a pregnancy. It is also true that only allowing the father in at the eleventh hour is putting the man’s needs ahead of a woman’s and does not recognise that she has an internationally recognised human right to have her support present. Will the Taoiseach ensure that maternity wards will make the reasonable decision to allow partners to be present at the most important time in pregnancies, at least at the birth and the 20-week scan, which are the most critical points?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. For the vast majority of people, giving birth is one of the most magical and beautiful moments that one can experience in life. For some, it can, as the Deputy has said, be very difficult and traumatic. In either situation, the presence of a partner is very valuable, important and, in ordinary times, essential. What has been happening in maternity wards in this situation is a reminder of how indiscriminate and devastating the pandemic has been in upending the norms of the human experience. We should, in the first instance, always acknowledge that this is Covid-19 really upending our lives and normal experiences. To be fair to all concerned in maternity and gynaecological wards and so on, the fundamental principle is to do no harm and their fundamental objective is to protect people - mothers, babies and front-line workers. That is, I surmise, the genuine motivation behind the restrictions that have been applied.

That said, I know the acting Chief Medical Officer is aware of the Department of Health's engagement with Dr. Peter McKenna, the clinical director for the national women and infants health programme, who has confirmed that the programme is working on a document to seek to ensure that, as far as practicable and having due regard to local circumstances, a consistent national approach to visitor restrictions in maternity hospitals is developed. I have heard a number of Deputies raise this issue over the past fortnight or so. The difficulty of uniformity across the system is because different locations have different risks and protocols applying in different hospitals and maternity wards. That also has to be acknowledged. There has to be some degree of local decision-making in respect of the overarching objective of protecting people in situations such as this. I will continue to work with the Minister for Health and those involved to see if we can get a satisfactory national approach to this matter.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response but it does not go far enough. He spoke about visitor restrictions and how we are to deal with that issue. The issue here is not visitor restrictions but restrictions that are stopping one person - the support for a pregnant woman - from being present at vital times in the pregnancy. It is not about visitor restrictions or visitors attending maternity wards or anything like that; it is about more than that. If staff are at risk from the partner of a pregnant woman, they are also at risk from the pregnant woman. Having one extra person in the ward or room is not going to make a significant difference. That needs to be taken on board. This is an extreme effect of the restrictions.

The national maternity strategy is running alongside Covid-19. This strategy's aim is to achieve a woman-centred maternity system that promises dignity, respect and compassion in the provision of services. This, sadly, is lacking and it needs to be addressed. This sounds like another example of male chauvinistic privilege that women tell me they often feel when they interact with services and decision-making around their fundamental rights and bodily autonomy. They should be able to have the support present for them at all the important times. The most important person in this whole process is the woman and her child. They should be at the centre of the decision-making. I ask the Taoiseach to address that point.

I agree 100% with the Deputy that they should be uppermost. We have to acknowledge the risk managers in hospitals, those whose overarching objective is to protect people. We should accept the motivation of all involved which, I surmise, is genuine. Nobody is wilfully doing this. This goes against the very grain of what is natural and normal in such situations.

We need to be fair here. We are politicians who bring back to the Chamber the concerns of the people we represent but we have to balance that with rushing in and ordering or instructing people on the ground who have responsibilities and legal obligations in dealing with the protection of mothers, babies and staff as well. That said, work is under way on this, as I have said, and my understanding is that Dr. Peter McKenna is working on developing a document for a consistent national approach to visitor restrictions in maternity hospitals. People understand the issues here. The important point is to affirm the fundamental principle of not doing harm and protecting all concerned to the optimal degree possible.