Miriam Donohoe: Can you recall the last time that you saw a mother breastfeeding her baby in public? For me it is so long ago I wonder whether the country's "breast is best" campaigners have thrown in the towel and given up on Irish motherhood and society as a lost cause.
Just 13 years ago, my own brave attempts to breastfeed my first-born ended abruptly. It wasn't because I couldn't provide for my hungry young son. No, it was a case that Irish society simply wasn't ready for what should be one of the most natural things in the world for a mother to do.
I was made to feel awkward, an outcast even, when I attempted to feed my baby, not only outside the home, but within the sanctuary of my own four walls as well.
I couldn't cope with the disgusted glances from other customers when I breastfed in a coffee shop or restaurant. I was even gently ticked off by relatives for breastfeeding in front of my then 11-year-old brother. It wasn't really a suitable thing for a young boy to be witnessing, apparently.
But the last straw came after my "new man" husband told our male next-door neighbour, who came to visit one evening, to call back as I was feeding the baby. Horrified, this was enough to make me grab the bottle of formula milk after only five weeks as a breastfeeding mother.
When it came to baby number two I didn't contemplate being mother earth for one minute. It was the bottle from the start.
Last week Australian Labour MP, Kirstie Marshall, made headlines all over the world when she tried to break new ground and breastfeed her 11-day-old baby girl in parliament.
"Charlotte was due for a feed so I whacked her on the breast and walked in," the new MP said in her own defence, after being asked to take her baby and leave the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Marshall was told the request to leave had nothing to do with the fact she had overturned 150 years of tradition by breastfeeding in the chamber. It was because Charlotte was not an elected member.
There was the predictable furore, with the Australian Breastfeeding Association insisting it was a baby's right to be fed anytime, anywhere, particularly in an area such as parliament where laws and trends can be set. The parliament itself is bowing to pressure and a committee is to review standing orders to see whether an exception shouldn't be made for babies desperate for some mother's milk.
But instead of promoting the cause of breastfeeding, the MP's stunt is likely to send the dinosaurs, most of them males, back into their shells shouting, "I told you so."
As a working mother, I am all for the promotion of breastfeeding. It should be encouraged and mothers should have the choice. Women should be given more paid maternity leave so that they can breastfeed their children during those vital, early, formative months.
Mothers have every right to breastfeed discreetly and they should be entitled to the basic privacies necessary in the workplace. But maybe the line should be drawn when it comes to a mother breastfeeding at her desk, and there is no justification whatsoever for Kirstie Marshall nursing her baby in the parliament chamber.
If her workplace happened to be a factory floor, an open office, or a school, her actions would be equally out of order.
Instead of using her position as an elected member of parliament to make a big public fuss about breastfeeding, she would have been better off using her influence to help introduce legislation to make life easier for working mothers.
Ireland has the lowest rate of breastfeeding in the developed world, despite the fact that over the last 25 years, breastfeeding in Western countries has undergone something of a revival.
Figures shows that only a third of Irish women initiate breastfeeding, and those rates are halved at three months. You could say our low breastfeeding rates are a public health crisis.
Without exception, all my friends who became mothers in recent years have given breastfeeding short shrift. The dearth of practical facilities for breastfeeding mothers and lack of encouragement are among the reasons they cite.
There is no clear, resourced Government breastfeeding policy. Micheál Martin did establish a National Committee on Breastfeeding last year to review the 1994 National Breastfeeding Policy. But we haven't heard much since.
Telling women about the good they can do for their babies, and encouraging employers to facilitate mothers in breastfeeding, is only one thing that will help. A bigger hurdle to overcome is the reluctance among Irish people to accept it. It is difficult to understand why Ireland, which has always cherished the family, has built so many barriers to an activity that is so natural and so good for babies.
miriamdonohoe@eircom.net