Women are to be entitled to an extra four weeks maternity leave from next month after the Government brought forward the introduction of the measure announced in the budget.
Minister Dermot Ahern said thousands of women should benefit. "We believe it is a very family-friendly policy to extend maternity leave.
We estimate that somewhere in the region of 26,000 women annually will benefit from these measures, at the cost of almost £14 million," revealed the Minister.