Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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573. To ask the Minister for Health if he will meet with an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40938/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is often an invisible disability and is associated with lifelong physical, mental, educational, social, and behavioural difficulties, but it is preventable by avoiding alcohol during pregnancy.

This is one of the reasons why in May 2023, I signed into law the Public Health (Alcohol) (Labelling) Regulations 2023 and the remaining provisions of Section 12 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act. The law provides that the labels of alcohol products warn about the risk of consuming alcohol when pregnant.

The HSE’s Making Every Contact Count (MECC) in Maternity Training Programme provides health service management and staff with a training programme that enables those who complete it to be equipped to deliver brief interventions with women. The training programme covers the main lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease namely tobacco, alcohol and drug use, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating.

A request for a meeting was received from the organisation referred to by the Deputy. As I was not in a position to meet with the organisation in this instance, regrets were issued. While I make every effort to meet with as many stakeholders as possible, it is not always possible to commit to every meeting request due to work pressures and the sheer volume of meeting requests that my office receives.