Date: Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Time: 13H00 - 14H00
Duration: 1 Hour

In association with the National Breastfeeding Week we are organising an online event on Wednesday the 6th October with Laura McHugh, National Breastfeeding Coordinator, HSE and Caoimhe Heery, a partner in Flynn O’Driscoll LLP’s Employment Team.

Laura McHugh is the Lead for the delivery of the HSE’s National Breastfeeding Action Plan priorities across 5 work streams.

Caoimhe Heery is a partner in Flynn O’Driscoll LLP’s Employment Team. She has over 15 years’ employment and litigation legal experience in Ireland and the UK. Caoimhe has extensive experience providing commercial and strategic legal advice on all aspects of both contentious and non-contentious employment law.  She provides advices on issues such as redundancy to include collective redundancy processes, severances, grievance and disciplinary matters, absence management, disability, equality and protected leaves, performance management, temporary and contingent workers, protected disclosures and working time. Caoimhe is a committee member of the C.I.P.D. (West) branch and has also contributed to the IELJ, IRN and Legal Island. She has lectured on the Law Society Diploma in Employment Law and tutored employment law on the Law Society professional practice course.

National Breastfeeding Week 
Online Event: Wednesday the 6th October 2021 
13h00 – 14h00 
Click here to join the meeting

The theme this year is ’Feeding the future: Supporting breastfeeding through a pandemic and beyond'. The past 18 months have been very challenging for families with many face-to-face breastfeeding supports cancelled when the pandemic began. Breastfeeding has many proven health benefits for mother and baby. Breastfeeding is the normal, natural way to feed a baby but it can be challenging in the first few weeks and some mothers will need additional support. The World Health Organisation and the HSE recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life; with the addition of solid food at six months and continued breastfeeding to two years and beyond.

Laura will provide an update on the following:

  • Breastfeeding in a Healthy Ireland – HSE Action Plan 2016-2021
  • Hospital and community service supports available for parents
  • Health Service Policies and Practices in Breastfeeding

Click here to view Laura's presentation.

Caoimhe will talk about the rights of employees in relation to breastfeeding in the workplace together with the range of protective leave and rights available to parents in the workplace. Click here to view Caoimhe's presentation.

Will you require an ISL interpreter for this event? If so, please email EDI@ul.ie