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Call to Brexit-proof Ireland's supply of breast milk for premature babies

The human milk bank in Co Fermanagh currently provides milk to neonatal units in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

IRELAND’S ONLY BREAST milk bank, which provides milk to neonatal units in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, has said it expects to continue a cross-border service after Brexit.

The human milk bank in Co Fermanagh provided by the Western Health and Social Care Trust expects co-operation to continue when the UK exits the EU as the facility  “is not dependent on EU funding or legislation”. 

“It, therefore, remains our expectation that access and co-operation should continue after EU Exit, in line with the Department of Health’s priorities in respect of maintaining cross-border healthcare services,” a spokesperson for the Western Trust told TheJournal.ie. 

Opened in 2000, the Western Trust milk bank issues around 1,500 litres of milk to units around Ireland each year.

Speaking earlier this year, the manager of the facility said that the breast milk bank was one of the reasons more premature babies were surviving.

In 2015 it helped approximately 856 babies including 90 sets of twins and 17 sets of triplets.

According to its website:

The bank also helps babies with major gut or heart problems by providing milk to their home.

However, as Brexit negotiations continue, it is still uncertain what is in store for the Irish border.

If there’s a hard Brexit or a no-deal Brexit, there’s likely to be custom checks along the border (out of the customs union), and additional tariffs (out of the single market).

This could have implications on those who rely on the service in the Republic.

‘The difference between life and death’

Concern about the future of a human milk service on the island was raised by Social Democrats’ spokeswoman on children, councillor Jennifer Whitmore, who has called for a similar facility to be set up in the Republic. 

Whitmore said she believes that sick and premature babies should not have to depend on supplies from the single donor bank located in the North. 

“This is a very important service, which in some instances can mean the difference between life and death.

The current arrangements have operated well for eighteen years, thanks to the fact that the UK is part of the EU. 

“We can’t allow families and babies-in-need to be caught up in any potential political upheaval in the wake of Brexit,” Whitmore said. 

How is milk collected?

The Milk Bank issues donors with pre-sterilised bottles, and mothers record their name and expression date on each bottle.

Milk can be frozen. Once donors have collected enough they contact the milk bank for a transport box which is then sent back to the bank, deep-frozen, using various transport routes. It is then sent on to hospitals and doctors who request it.

The Wicklow councillor has called on the Government to establish a milk bank in the Republic “so that donor milk from Irish mothers can be collected, processed and stored in this jurisdiction”. 

The HSE said in response to a query from this website that it has no plans to establish and operate a human milk bank in the Republic of Ireland but is “committed to maintaining the necessary supply”. 

“There is currently an arrangement in place to purchase donor human breast milk from a number of sites in the UK which meets the required need,” a HSE spokesperson said. 

 

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16 Comments
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    Mute Frank Dubogovik
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    Oct 6th 2018, 7:33 AM

    anyone else suffering from ” brexit fatigue”…its been non stop in the media for nigh on 2years. every day there’s a new ” angle”…a new “scare” story. The world isn’t going to stop turning in March 2019- deal or no deal.I wonder what’s the media going to be so obsessed with after brexit

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    Mute FartyTowels
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    Oct 6th 2018, 8:24 AM

    @Frank Dubogovik: completely agree. However I want to know will brexit mean that we will once again be able to buy duty free on ferries between Ireland and the UK? Up yours high duty on my beloved vino

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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Oct 6th 2018, 9:22 AM

    @Frank Dubogovik: no not really.just because your a bot programmed to disperse apathy doesn’t change the fact that brexit is an immensely serious problem for this island. Disperse your apathy elsewhere

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    Mute Frank Dubogovik
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    Oct 6th 2018, 9:59 AM

    @JustOneScoop: ??? whatever morphine or cocaine or whatever you’re on there lad you need to check the doses. I’m a “bot”…wtf is that that supposed to mean??

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    Mute Tweed Cap
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    Oct 6th 2018, 7:25 AM

    The product will still be there. It just might (or not) be subject to a customs check, like 100% of all other non EU goods that come through Irish & European Ports.
    The way some people are going on you’d swear the Brits were intent on rolling up their country like a carpet and moving it to the Southern Hemisphere.
    After next March, they’ll still be right next door, doing fine and getting on with life. And all the disappointed drama junkies will find something else to fret about. Somebody rightly compared all this hysterical carry on to the millennium bug nonsense.

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 6th 2018, 9:21 AM

    @Tweed Cap: of course it’ll be there. The very reason the world will not come to a grinding halt is that these things are being put out there, now, by organisations such as this. So their concern is that it will be business as usual for most of them providing the bureaucrats do their thing in the background. ‘It’ll be alright on the night‘ requires the backstage staff to be on the ball.

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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Oct 6th 2018, 9:22 AM

    @Tweed Cap: bot alert . Incoming

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    Mute John Horan
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    Oct 6th 2018, 10:47 AM

    @Tweed Cap: Incorrect. You cannot import whatever you like from the rest of the world into the EU. There are restrictions on certain items coming into the EU but if they are produced in the EU they circulate freely. Additionally the items that get imported to the EU are subject to duties and taxes that make them more expensive. Remember that bit where the customs check your luggage to see what you bought on your shopping trip to NY and if you have certain stuff you get a big bill? Like that but worse

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    Mute wattsed
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    Oct 6th 2018, 11:39 AM

    @Tweed Cap: Agreed. You would think there will be folks watching Sky News at midnight on the night waiting for the country to disappear into a large sinkhole or at best for the UK to be plunged into darkness and wiped out with the plague.

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    Mute eastsmer
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    Oct 6th 2018, 7:04 AM

    Another thing that a United Ireland will solve

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    Oct 6th 2018, 7:09 AM

    @eastsmer: Relactification!

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    Mute Helen O'Neill
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    Oct 6th 2018, 7:55 PM

    Hopefully won’t become an issue as they do incredible work in the milk bank! Such an amazing thing to do m, if you can. I donated almost 6L about2.5 years ago and it’s so lovely to hear back how many babies got your milk and a little broach as a keepsake. Amazing work up there!!

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    Mute Johnny Mason
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    Oct 6th 2018, 8:02 AM

    We survived before without it I am sure we can do it again !

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    Mute AnneMarie Roche
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    Oct 6th 2018, 8:54 AM

    @Johnny Mason: The point is that vulnerable premature babies don’t survive without breast milk. Options of feeding this population is mothers breast milk, donated milk, TPN (nutrition delivered via its veins)-in that order. Mothers supply is often affected by the stressful situation she finds herself in and donated milk is required.

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    Mute Johnny Mason
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    Oct 6th 2018, 12:59 PM

    @AnneMarie Roche: Yes but we don’t need to make a Industry about it and worry ourselves to death !

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    Mute AnneMarie Roche
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    Oct 6th 2018, 10:24 PM

    @Johnny Mason: Tell that to the parents of a premmie born at 24weeks. Just because it doesn’t affect you directly doesn’t make it unimportant. And the Republic could do with “making an industry ” of it, we spend alot of money buying it from the north.

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