Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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218. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the meetings held by her Departmental officials from assistant principal level upwards with representatives of the food industry in relation to the issue of infant nutrition in Ireland from 2021 to date, including the issue of banning infant formula advertising in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022; the dates, attendees and matters that were discussed at each meeting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28614/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Officials from my Department have met with a wide range of stakeholders from NGOs, industry and other groups in relation to the development of the Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) Bill. In this context, officials met with members of Food Drink Ireland, a trade association under the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, and a representative of the Association of Advertisers in Ireland on 3 February 2022. The discussion at this meeting focused on recommendations 24, 25 and 27 of the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media in respect of the General Scheme of the OSMR Bill.  

Recommendation 25 of the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee calls for the introduction of a moratorium on the advertising of infant formula online. In relation to this matter, Departmental officials advised that policy direction regarding the advertising of infant formula is a matter for, and would be led by, the Department of Health.

The OSMR Bill finished Committee Stage in the Seanad this week. I noted during the Committee Stage debate that rules providing for information and advertising standards in relation to infant formulae are set out in EU regulations and that primary policy responsibility lies with the Department of Health. I have asked my officials to engage with the Department of Health in relation to this matter and I have committed to return to the matter at Report Stage in the Seanad to set out the next steps.