Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and her staff for their engagement with me on the issue of formula and breastfeeding. I hope there is recognition that when the Bill includes sugar and salt it must be broadened to other public health matters. I will not go over old ground because I spoke extensively on the impact of advertising on breastfeeding rates in this country and that it is no surprise that we have a large export industry that is reliant on formula milk.

Senator Higgins mentioned the large quantities of formula being exported from Ireland one way or another, even to be made in other countries. Fundamentally it comes from Ireland. I do not think that those things are coincidental when we look at the lack of regulation around the advertising of formula. There is no level playing field here but that is not really the issue. It is not the case that if we had equal amounts of advertisements for breastfeeding and formula milk we would be fine: no, we would not. What has been clearly pointed out by the WHO is that advertising of formula has a public health impact. That is why it needs to be regulated and, I argue, should not be advertised at all. We should ensure that the product is available and those who need support in order to use different products have that support and that they have that choice and are supported. However, that is not what these companies do when they are advertising. They are there to make money and to have that share of the market moved from breastfeeding into something that creates profit for them and we can never, as a nation, compete.

I wanted to come back in because I heard the comments from Senator Lombard last time around the importance of support for those who are breastfeeding. That is not what this is about at all. I have been involved in breastfeeding support through Cuidiú and the La Leche League. I have spoke at an Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland, ALCI, conference and at a conference of the Friends of Breastfeeding. I know the work that those who are volunteering do. They do it because there are no proper supports in this country and professional support through lactation consultants. I am delighted that under this Government we have funding for 24 new lactation consultants but they need to be put in place and we need to go far beyond that.

However, that is not what we are talking about today. Even if we had everything else in place, what do we think is going to happen? Are we to have more and more spending by these large companies to combat and counteract it and get their share of the market? We need to ensure that does not happen because those are the kinds of insidious tactics that are used. I have outlined previously what I think is a great concern for online advertising because in the times when one is most vulnerable, the quiet moments in one's own home with one's tiny baby and is Googling, it is then that one finds something that hits one in the face as a solution when it may not be.

I do not think the Bill can achieve everything that we want to achieve. I hope that everyone would recognise that. It is about enabling the possibility of advertising regulations and that would ultimately have to come from the Department of Health. This would open the door to that. I also pointed out that I would amend some of the amendments.It is not just about marketing to babies and children, it is also about marketing to their parents in this particular instance. That is possibly different from sugar and salt. It should be taken into account.

I know the Bill is not going to achieve everything. I am realistic about that. However, we also need to then look beyond, and it is the Department of Health I would be looking at in this regard. We also must consider the fact that the World Health Organization guidelines are not being implemented fully across the board, and I have studied this, in many European countries. That has to be addressed.

I will conclude with that as I do not want to go back over old ground. Those are the important things to put on the record. I will not say it was disingenuous but it was straying into other fields to say that if we put all the money in the world into breastfeeding supports, it is not going to change the fact that people are making massive profits. They are doing it in large part through advertising. That is ultimately where they are making that money.