Many were baffled when Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty blocked a common-sense proposal to allow mothers to share the current 26-week maternity leave which had majority support in the Dáil.

Even more baffling were the reasons put forward for rejecting the Shared Maternity Leave and Benefit Bill 2018 which Fianna Fáil's Lisa Chambers described as ranging from "the sublime to the ridiculous".

Dismissing the Bill, which would especially benefit self-employed women who often feel they wouldn't have a business to return to if they took the full entitlement, Ms Doherty said she believed there would be little interest in it.

Worse still, the Minister claimed that the measure could put vulnerable women in even more jeopardy as "maternity leave will become a commodity that is subject to negotiation within couples and between a woman and her employer".

Shared leave has now been introduced in a number of European countries including the UK and robust enough legislation would ensure that mothers are not pressured but can make decisions that work best for their personal situation.

A similar dismissive tone was taken by Leo Varadkar today when he was asked about sharing out of maternity and parental leave.

We had a good look at both of those issues and the direction of policy is that there should always be a dedicated maternity benefit; women give birth to children and that does create a difference.

"There is a need to get through a pregnancy and recover from it so I think there will always be a need for a dedicated maternity leave," the Taoiseach said.

Yes, Mr Varadkar is a qualified medical doctor, but suggesting that every single mother needs a full six months to recover from the birth of a child frankly seems farcical. For self-employed women, to take six months away from their business is, unfortunately, a luxury they could never afford.

Mr Varadkar was speaking at the launch of the national childcare scheme and it seems the Government wanted to create a buzz around it - so much so that a bright yellow bumblebee was used on the package of documents that journalists received when attending the event.

But Labour's Seán Sherlock later pointed out that the event was "just a launch about a launch with nothing tangible for parents or providers".

Detail was also lacking on Sunday when Mr Varadkar turned up to yet another launch, this time of the Future Jobs Ireland 2019 plan, which included a vague target to "deliver a new female entrepreneurship strategy".

Perhaps the Government might want to think of what happens when those female entrepreneurs decide to have a family.