The employers’ representative group Ibec is lobbying against proposals by Roderic O’Gorman, the children’s minister, to introduce mandatory paid breastfeeding breaks for mothers for up to two years. O’Gorman has said he intends to bring forward legislative proposals later this year to give effect to the policy.
Ibec has written to both O’Gorman and Leo Varadkar, the tanaiste, voicing concern about the idea. It claims the breaks will give rise to “significant cost and operational challenges” for employers. It describes O’Gorman’s plans to extend the entitlement from 26 weeks to two years as “unprecedented”.
“Should breastfeeding entitlements be extended, Ibec submits that any extension beyond 52 weeks from the date of confinement should be unpaid,” it told O’Gorman in an email on March 31.
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