Pregnant and in an 3 month contract-then?

All help appreciated..
i am 18 weeks pregnant and have just gotten a 3 month contract which will bring me up to 30 weeks, the contract may run on another 2 weeks or so which is absoluety fine..

My question is this.. Will i be eligible for maternity benefit from the social welfare when the baby is born... since someone said u need to be working immediately before the day you go on maternity leave? Is this true|??

Or if the contract is up at 32 weeks, can i then go on JB and then when baby is born claim maternity benefit?
Dont know how this works so all answers apreciated.. Thanks

You can take your ML at any time from 24 weeks on, so you could elect to go on ML on the date your contract finishes. The only other option you would have is to get a job which would bring you up to 38 weeks, which I think would be unlikely. The only downside of it is that you get less time after the baby is born, but maybe that wouldn't be too much of an issue with additional unpaid leave.