Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 598: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the latest social policy report from the Citizen's Information Board regarding Section 9 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 which points to the redundancy of the provision in relation to leave entitlements for women who breast-feed since the extension of maternity leave; if the claim in the report is correct that breast-feeding women no longer have an entitlement to leave if they have taken the full paid and unpaid maternity leave; and if so, the action he is taking to correct this anomaly and restore the leave entitlement of breast-feeding women. [30840/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the comments that have been expressed by the Citizens Information Board. The Maternity Protection (Protection of Mothers who are Breast-feeding) Regulations 2004 make provision for an employee who is breast-feeding to take 1 hour off from her work each working day as a breast-feeding break without loss of pay, until the child is 6 months old. The Regulations were framed in the context of a maternity leave entitlement of 14 weeks with a further entitlement to 4 weeks additional unpaid leave. The entitlement to maternity leave is now 26 weeks with a further entitlement to 16 weeks additional unpaid leave. Further increases in paid maternity leave are envisaged in the Agreed Programme for Government over the next 5 years. The Breast-feeding Regulations are being reviewed by my Department in the light of these developments.