64.—(1) A health board shall pay a cash grant in respect of each confinement to a woman who is a person with full eligibility, who fulfils the prescribed conditions and whom it is not proposed to maintain in an institution after the confinement (otherwise than for the purpose of medical or surgical treatment) by or at the expense of the health board.

(2) The amount of a grant under this section shall be—

(a) where there is live issue, £8 in respect of each child born alive,

(b) where there is no live issue, £8.

F127[(3) In deciding whether or not to make an order under section 21A of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act, 1976 (inserted by the Status of Children Act, 1987), in so far as any such order relates to the payment of expenses incidental to the birth of a child, the Circuit Court or the District Court, as the case may be, shall not take into consideration the fact that the mother of the child is entitled to a grant under this section.]

(4) In this section “confinement” means labour resulting in the issue of a living child, or labour after twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy resulting in the issue of a living or dead child.