(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Chapter 8 of Part II of the following Chapter:
"Chapter 8 - Maternity Benefit
37. Entitlement to and duration of benefit.
(1) Subject to this Act, a woman shall be entitled to maternity benefit if -
(a) it is certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister that it is to be expected that she will be confined in a week specified in the certificate (hereafter in this section referred to as ‘the expected week of confinement’) not being more than the prescribed number of weeks after that in which the certificate is given,
(b) where she is an employed contributor, it is certified by her employer that she is entitled to maternity leave under section 8 of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994, and
(c) subject to subsection (2), she satisfies the contribution conditions in section 38.
(2) The requirement in subsection (1)(c) shall not apply in the case of a claim for maternity b