Under Section 9 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004, mothers in employment who have given birth within the previous 6 months (26 weeks) and who are breastfeeding are entitled to take one hour paid time off work each day in order to breastfeed. At the choice of the employer, a breastfeeding mother may breastfeed in the workplace or express breast milk, where facilities are provided in the workplace by the employer or, where facilities are not made available, have their working hours reduced (without loss of pay) to facilitate breastfeeding. Employers are not obliged to provide facilities in the workplace to facilitate breastfeeding if the provision of such facilities would give rise to considerable costs. Breastfeeding breaks can be taken as a one hour break, two 30 minute breaks or three 20 minute breaks. Breaks may be longer and more frequent if agreed between the new mother and her employer. Mothers working part-time are also entitled to breastfeeding breaks, calculated on a pro-rata basis.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth adheres to the Provision of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. Part 6, Chapter 2 of the regulations apply to employees that are pregnant, have just had a baby or are breast feeding. Two rooms are designated that can be used for the purposes of breastfeeding or expressing milk in the Department's offices. More detailed information on breastfeeding and lactation breaks for civil servants is set out in paragraph 9 of Department of Finance Circular 31/2006:- Implementation of the Regulations of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004, which is available at
https://hr.per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Circular-31-06-Implementation-of-the-Regulations-of-the-Maternity-Protection-Amendment-Act-2004.pdf
A commitment in “FIRST 5: A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families” provides for a review of the relevant provisions of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 on the issue of extending the current entitlement to paid time off work for breastfeeding mothers from 26 to 104 weeks after the baby’s birth. This reflects a similar commitment in the National Strategy on Women and Girls 2017-2020.
Work is underway in my Department on legislative proposals in this regard. The provisions are being drafted for inclusion within an early appropriate Bill.
