Today is the first day of national breastfeeding week and despite all the known benefits of breastfeeding rates remain very low in Ireland, so we are obviously not doing something right. Only 15% of babies are still being exclusively breastfed by the time they are six months old. Will the Government please commit to funding and resourcing the national breastfeeding strategy and ensure we give the best start in life to our babies?

I absolutely agree with Deputy Whitmore that our levels of breastfeeding are shocking and a disgrace to the country. It is a very difficult subject for a man to speak about but I know the science, research and health evidence show that breastfeeding has huge benefits to health and all sorts of other outcomes. We need to radically improve the incidence and level of breastfeeding. We have the right strategies and our maternity strategies have improved in recent years. I would have been very critical about this a number of years ago. We have the right strategies and plans in place but it seems we are not implementing them, right down to hospital ward level, and that has to change. It is not easy because it is a matter of personal choice and there is no way one would ever criticise anyone for the choices they make in that regard but on public health grounds, I absolutely commit to supporting the Government in trying to achieve those objectives.