Ms Geraldine Cahill:

One of the points I want to come back to is the interaction between the agencies and the voluntary groups. We have some representation. For instance, Cuidiú sits on a committee in the children's hospital in Tallaght but does not appear to have representation in Our Lady's children's hospital. We sit on some of the maternity units but not all. As volunteers it is quite difficult to get people to volunteer to be parent representatives on these committees but it is vital that women's voices are heard in this sphere. In the past year, none of these committees has sat anyway as everything seems to have stopped, just like the public health nurses who do the well-baby care visits are no longer always doing so because they have been shifted to Covid and vaccination programmes. Our mothers and babies are left in the community with absolutely no support. Having to resort to a private lactation consultant is fine if people have the funding but if they do not have the funds, it means they go completely without help, including State help. A lot needs to be done on hospital interaction with voluntary groups and with private lactation consultants. There needs to be a multipronged approach so that stakeholder voices are heard rather than deciding from the top down what is needed in the country.