The ban is supported by the Irish Congress of General Practitioners.
Irish GPs are backing calls to ban online baby formula ads.
The proposal was brought to the Seanad last week under the new Online Safety and Media Regulations Bill.
The ICGP says just 6 per cent of infants here are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives.
That's significantly lower than the European average of 25 per cent.
Breasts aren't good for business.
For 40 years #WHOCode has urged the world to curtail the marketing of infant formula.
Ireland has lowest breastfeeding rates in EU & OECD but still hasn't enacted their recommendations.
Millions spent on advertising each year in this industry. pic.twitter.com/R5ZvoBUWdI— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin 🇺🇦 (@aoibhinn_ni_s) May 20, 2021
Independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins says the World Health Organisation is opposed to targeted ads for formula milk.
Formula milk is made from cow's milk but has been changed or processed to make it suitable for babies.
"They have just recently, the WHO, published a new updated piece of research," Higgins said.
"That has specifically identified online marketing as something that is massively undermining."
"They have highlighted online marketing as something directly that they believe should be banned."
