Irish health chiefs have declared that “pregnant men” are entitled to maternity leave—despite pregnancy and childbirth being exclusively female.
Gript reports that new guidance from the state-run Health Service Executive (HSE) says transgender employees who are legally recognised as male can claim 26 weeks of paid maternity leave if they become pregnant or give birth.
“Since 2023, transgender men who are pregnant or have given birth can access maternity leave,” the advice states.
To qualify, employees must hold a gender recognition certificate under Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act 2015, which allows a woman to change her legal sex to male.
They can also claim a further 16 weeks of unpaid maternity leave immediately after the paid period ends.
The policy lays bare a striking contradiction in Ireland’s gender laws. The state officially records the employee as a man while granting maternity rights based on the uniquely female realities of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.
Separate HSE employment guidelines published in June confirm that “transgender men who have given birth can access statutory maternity leave”.
Yet the same document says maternity laws protect pregnant employees, those who have recently given birth and those who are breastfeeding—without acknowledging that all three groups are necessarily female.
The rules follow changes introduced under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023.
An analysis by Irish law firm Byrne Wallace Shields said the legislation was amended to bring transgender men who had obtained gender recognition certificates and subsequently given birth within the scope of existing maternity protections.
HSE employees who qualify receive their basic salary and normal fixed allowances during the 26-week period, minus any maternity benefit paid by the Department of Social Protection.
They also continue to build up pension, annual-leave and seniority rights and may take breastfeeding breaks after returning to work.
But the guidance falls back on ordinary sex-based language when confronting the realities of parenthood. It says maternity leave can transfer to “the father” if “the mother” dies during childbirth and confirms that fathers can attend the final two antenatal classes.
The result is an extraordinary official position: Ireland can legally declare someone to be a man while recognising that the same person can conceive, give birth and breastfeed.
