Five new lactation consultant roles remain unfilled due to HSE budget issues

Five new lactation consultant roles, which the Government had promised to fill this year, remain empty because of HSE budget issues. It brings to 11 the total number of lactation consultant roles that have been funded but not filled in the Irish health service. That represents 16 per cent of the breastfeeding consultants who should be working in maternity, children’s hospitals and in public health. Last year, the Government promised to fund the new breastfeeding support roles as part of Budget 2026. But the HSE has now confirmed the new positions have not been filled as it is under pressure to meet its own budget. Over 65 per cent of babies born in Irish hospitals are breastfed for their first feed, but the breastfeeding rate drops to 44 per cent by the time babies are about three months old. READ MOREIreland still falls behind many other European countries for its breastfeeding rates. Last October, junior health minister Mary Butler confirmed the Government had made funding available to hire five more lactation consultants before the end of the year. Butler had said this would bring the total number of whole-time equivalent (WTE) lactation consultants in the HSE to 69.1. But by July of this year, only 59.55 WTE lactation consultants were working for the HSE. Another 11 roles had been funded but have not yet been filled, including the five new roles promised in Budget 2026. “Five lactation posts were announced in Budget 2026 along with non-pay measures for breastfeeding pumps,” said Davinia O’Donnell, general manager of the National Women and Infants Health Programme. “The positions remain unfilled as the HSE is implementing strengthened financial control measures to ensure the HSE Regions remain within approved budgets while continuing to deliver safe, high-quality care to patients and communities. “All vacancies are subject to additional review and approval processes to ensure that recruitment activity is aligned with service priorities and available funding.”O’Donnell confirmed, in response to a parliamentary question from Labour health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock, that the lactation consultants had not yet been hired.Sherlock said it is “simply not acceptable that mothers and their babies are being asked to bear the burden of new financial restrictions on the HSE”.“The Government announced five lactation consultant posts in Budget 2026, but its own financial restrictions are now preventing those posts from being filled,” she said. “You could not have a clearer example of a Government making promises with one hand and quietly taking them away with the other. At a time when Ireland already has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, this makes absolutely no sense. “Breastfeeding support is not an optional extra. Those first days and weeks are crucial, and mothers need access to specialist support when they need it. The Minister for Health needs to ensure these promised posts are filled without further delay. Mothers and newborn babies cannot become collateral damage in efforts to balance the HSE’s books.”