S.I. No. 640/2024 - Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024 (Section 6) (Commencement) Order 2024

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 22nd November, 2024.

I, HEATHER HUMPHREYS, Minister for Social Protection, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 1 (3) of the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024 (No. 37 of 2024), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024 (Section 6) (Commencement) Order 2024.

2. The 20th day of November 2024 is appointed as the day on which section 6 of the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024 (No. 37 of 2024) shall come into operation.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

20 November, 2024.

HEATHER HUMPHREYS,

Minister for Social Protection.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This order provides for the commencement of section 6 of the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024 (No. 37 of 2024) from 20 November 2024. That section amends section 47 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to enable the Minister for Social Protection to make Regulations to allow for the postponement of the payment of maternity benefit in the event of the person who is entitled to that benefit having a serious health condition within the meaning of section 14C of the Maternity Protection Act 1994.