The Maternity Protection Act 1994 is amended -

(a) in section 2, by the insertion of the following definition:

"‘premature birth period’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005;",

(b) in section 8 by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (1):

"(1A) Subject to this Part, a pregnant employee referred to in subsection (1) shall be entitled to a further period of maternity leave that is in addition to the minimum period of maternity leave referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b) of subsection (1), if, on or after 1 October 2017 the date of confinement occurs more than 2 weeks before the expected week of confinement.

(1B) The duration of the further period of maternity leave referred to in subsection (1A) shall be equal to the duration of the premature birth period.",

(c) by the insertion of the following section after section 8:

"8A. Supplemental provisions relating to premature birth period

The further period of maternity leave referred to in section 8(1A) shall be without prejudice to sections 12, 14, 14A and 14B.",

(d) in section 13(2) -