Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 263: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her Department will support an extension in the breast feeding break provisions for working mothers as provided for under the Maternity Protection Amendment Act 2004 to cater for breast feeding working mothers with children up to two years of age. [4246/07]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health and Children recommends that mothers breastfeed their children until they are 2 years of age or older. This recommendation is based on a vast scientific literature demonstrating the substantial health, social and economic importance of breastfeeding. The advantages of breastfeeding include lower infant and young child morbidity and mortality from diarrhoea, other infectious diseases as well as chronic illnesses like asthma, eczema, diabetes, obesity and heart disease later in life. Increasingly research is demonstrating that the health and nutritional advantages of breastfeeding can be maximised in the short, medium and long term by extending its duration into the second year of life and beyond. To make the best practice recommendation for breastfeeding duration more achievable my Department supports an extension to the provision of breastfeeding breaks during the working day for breastfeeding employees.

The current situation is that paid maternity leave lasts for 18 weeks. Within the provisions of the Maternity Protection Amendment Act 2004 mothers, on return to paid employment, are allowed lactation breaks of 1 hour per day for a further 8 weeks maximum. This means that nursing mothers who are in paid employment are enabled to breastfeed their children until each child is 26 weeks old.

However, given that the forthcoming maternity leave provisions provide for 26 weeks paid maternity leave, the provisions of the Maternity Protection Amendment Act 2004 will effectively become obsolete. My Department favours the lactation break facility being extended to mothers beyond the 26 week period.

Any amendment to the Maternity Protection Amendment Act 2004 is a matter for the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I will be writing to him shortly on this issue.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 264: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the funding in place to support the strategic action plan for breast feeding; and the timetable and allocations for each aspect of the plan. [4247/07]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Funding for all health services has been provided as part of the Executive's overall vote for health and personal social services in 2007. The allocation of resources in the case raised by the Deputy is a matter for the executive to be determined within the overall priorities for particular services set out by me in the Budget. Accordingly, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.