Around 1,300 new mothers have been left without maternity pay for more than 4 weeks.

The delay has been caused by new systems which have been implemented at the Department of Social Protection.

Staff are now being trained to help process the €235 a week payment.

But it could be a number of weeks before the problem s fixed. 

Susan Keogh has been speaking to Teresa Heeney CEO of Early childhood Ireland who says new parents can't afford to wait.