Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that it is “good to be back at it” as she returned to work from maternity leave.
The Fine Gael TD was back at the office on Thursday following the birth of her second child Vincent in December.
However, her children were not too far from her mind as one tyke decided to colour over her briefing before she returned.
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On Twitter, she shared a picture of pink crayon scribbles all over her notes.
“Good to be back at it,” she said.
“Huge thanks to Simon Harris for his work over the past six months.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also welcomed his minister back, saying that he “missed [her] a lot”. He also thanked Simon Harris for his work as minister while Ms McEntee was off.
Mr Harris, meanwhile, told the Irish Mirror that he was “delighted” that Ms McEntee was back and he had met her on Thursday morning.
The Meath East TD welcomed baby Vincent in December at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital. It was her second child with husband Paul Hickey, following the arrival of Michael in April 2021.
It was the second time that special arrangements had to be made for Minister McEntee to take maternity leave.
Ministers, TDs and Senators are not entitled to take leave when they or their partner have a child. Due to the fact that the constitution limits the number of Cabinet ministers to 15, no TD can be temporarily promoted if they are not already a senior minister.
Instead, Ms McEntee was made a minister without portfolio, with Ms Humphreys taking over the role from November until mid-December before the reigns were handed over to Mr Harris following December’s Cabinet reshuffle.
Before heading on maternity leave in November, Ms McEntee admitted that she would like to see a referendum take place to allow ministers to take maternity leave.
She said: “I would like to ensure that women who come after me, and there will be many more after me, that they have the entitlement to take maternity leave that doesn't require a special arrangement.
“But I appreciate it's not something that's very, it's not straightforward.
“The challenge at the moment is that you can only have 15 [ministers].
“When the first cabinet was established, they perhaps didn't visualise it to be more than 15 or there might be a woman around the table.”
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