51.—(1) In this Chapter—

(a) F405[‘confinement’ means—

(i) labour resulting in the issue of a living child, or

(ii) labour resulting in the issue of a stillborn child,

and ‘confined’ shall be construed accordingly;]

F406[‘premature birth period’ means a period which—

(a) commences on a date of confinement which occurs on or after 1 October 2017, and

(b) expires two weeks before the end of the expected week of confinement;]

F407[…]

“relevant day” means the first day for which maternity benefit is claimed;

F408[‘stillborn child’ has the same meaning as it has in the Civil Registration Act 2004.]

(b) references to the date of the confinement shall be taken as referring, where labour begun on one day results in the issue of a child on another day, to the date of the issue of the child or, where a woman is confined with twins or a greater number of children, to the date of the issue of the last child.

[1997 s10(1)]

(2) In deciding whether or not to make an order under section 21A (inserted by the Status of Children Act 1987) of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976, 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 maternity benefit.