Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did not hear the Minister mention one number - either a financial number or numbers for the year 2024 to which my question related. He has not provided new funding for maternity services in budget 2024. We all know that these strategies need additional year-on-year funding to develop to continually improve and expand on the services. If this strategy does not get new funding, it calls into question a range of measures from upgrading hospitals to relocating services to the community and developing an integrated multidisciplinary approach to maternity care implementing HIQA standards, delivering safe staffing levels in maternity hospitals, rolling out community-based midwifery-led let postnatal care and developing breastfeeding support.

The Minister mentioned lactation consultants. I want to focus on the breastfeeding supports. The national maternity strategy implementation plan identifies that new measure funding is needed to develop these services every year to 2027. How much funding has he secured in 2024 to develop breastfeeding supports for new mothers?

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