Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her wonderful Bill. I have not tabled over 200 amendments like Senator Higgins and simply wish to acknowledge the amount of work that the Minister has done on this important legislation. Today, we are a speaking about something that an awful lot of us are passionate about whether that is in what we do in life or in society.

I will now try to flesh out this amendment and must state that we all approach this subject from different angles. I am first a dairy farmer, second a politician, third a father of four children who are in primary school and so I have a very busy house, and fourth I am married to a midwife. Therefore, I have a unique insight, rightly or wrongly, in terms of my views on the proposals that have been brought forward and I shall start at the top. As a farmer I know that farmers do an awful lot of work to make sure that the products that we make are safe and accountable to environmental concerns but are to the highest possible standards. We have managed to do that over the last decades. What we produce in Ireland is a credit to the education of the farming community, the advisory service and the people who have worked with us over the last few years.

The average size of a dairy farm in Ireland is 79 cows. In west Cork the average size of a dairy farm is 79 cows and we have small creameries such as Barryroe, Lisavaird and Bandon. They all produce the milk pool that produces the butter, milk and baby food formula, which becomes a part of the basket of products that we sell nationally and internationally. I am proud to say that we do this to the best possible standards in the world. I do not know that there is any country that can do what we do and at the standards that we achieve. Today, we must acknowledge, and I am open to correction, that 94% of people choose to bottle feed. If one chooses to do so then one must realise that bottle feeding is a substitute. We are all very much aware that breast is best but the baby formula products that we produce are of the highest possible standard. This House needs to acknowledge that fact during this debate.

I am a father and my wife breastfed our first two children, which worked very well but when our twins came along breastfeeding them became a different issue. We, as a family, tried to continue what we did with our first two children but we found that there were no supports in our community. The nearest lactation consultant to us was 79 miles away in Schull and meant a round trip of 150 miles so that did not work. To be perfectly honest, we found it a chore to locate breast pumps and everything associated with breastfeeding. At the time we were a household that had four children under six years of age and trying to breastfeed our twin babies is something that my wife and I regret in many ways because it did not work.

Sometimes breastfeeding does not work and when that happens then the appropriate services need to be available but I do not think they exist. I mean that I do not think that there are lactation consultants available in communities. Covid has not helped as it has prevented support groups and everyone else in the sector from meeting. Support is needed to make sure that breastfeeding is done right, and particularly when multiple births occur. My wife and I did not have the support to make sure we could breastfeed our twins.

This debate must be about lactation and mother and baby groups meeting in communities and not in a hospital setting, which is where they are based at the moment. We need multiple lactation consultants on the road in order to reach mothers and their families. Otherwise the supports for the families who want to breastfeed their children are not going to be available and that is a core issue in our argument.

When one considers what this Bill seeks to achieve in terms of tackling issues like gambling and sugary foods, I fundamentally think that having baby formula attached to this legislation does not make sense. In many ways it does not sit well with me given the amount of work done to make sure that the products that are made available to parents who want to bottle feed have an appropriate level of security around them. I think that baby formula does not fit with this legislation.

Some Senators mentioned price. The cost of rearing a family is an immense issue and breastfeeding is advantageous in that regard. However, when it comes to the multiple purchase of nappies and everything else that is required there is no discount given to anyone who has a baby under six months because that is how the supermarkets run things. I clearly remember that the cost of buying nappies and everything else for twins was horrendous for the first six months. Therefore, I contend that more supports must be provided to families, and in particular to families with multiple births.

This legislation seeks to regulate what we are trying to do with online safety. We need to be fair to everyone in society. The Irish dairy industry is based in 79 rural locations throughout Ireland. Whether it is places like Ballineen or Mitchelstown, they do an exceptionally good job but it is only a supplement. If we want to change the narrative for breastfeeding then I urge the Government to put the supports in communities and give support to the families who want to breastfeed their children. The majority of families want to breastfeed their children. To say that people fall for online advertising misses the point. I believe that people choose not to breastfeed because there are no supports in their community, which has been the experience of my family.

Senator Pauline O'Reilly is right. For the past six months this issue has been the topic of conversation both inside and outside the Seanad. Not a week has gone by without this issue being discussed at my kitchen table because my wife and I have all of the angles. I mean that there is my wife's view, my view and everyone else's view. If we want to change things then putting something in this Bill about online promotion will change nothing. It might change the prefix but the real change must come by what we do in communities so I suggest that we provide lactation consultants and groups who will meet people in halls. I make that suggestion as in my family's case a lactation consultant was located 79 miles away so to reach that person one would have had to endure a 150 mile round-trip so it was not possible to continuing breastfeeding.