the Irish Examiner first reported<\/a>\u00a0about threats being issued but did not say to whom this happened.<\/p>\nCorrespondence released to The Journal now\u00a0shows that the ALCI told the HSE its volunteers and staff at the conference venue had received direct personal threats.<\/p>\n
Emails also show how decisions were made to move the event online, including the organisers\u2019 plans to offer Engelsman\u2019s talks separately and to pay his full fee.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792977850_194_.png\")
\n A since-deleted post on ALCI’s Instagram page highlighting Engelsman’s appearance at the conference Instagram<\/p>\n
Instagram\n<\/p>\n
On 15 August, the ALCI informed HSE national breastfeeding co-ordinator Laura McHugh that it was facing criticism of Engelsman\u2019s inclusion.<\/p>\n
The criticism had come from an external individual who said non-member midwives and lactation specialists had raised concerns, the ALCI\u2019s president M\u00e1ir\u00e9ad O\u2019Sullivan wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, none of our members have reported any concerns directly to the ALCI, and it appears that many of these social media allegations are from individuals living outside of Ireland,\u201d O\u2019Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
\u2018To clarify one point\u2019<\/p>\n
On 19 August, the ALCI sent McHugh the speaker agreements and abstracts for Engelsman\u2019s talks.<\/p>\n
It said the topic of the talks had been requested in previous attendees\u2019 feedback and the speaker had been suggested as part of that feedback.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo clarify one point: Jacob has not been invited to the ALCI to deliver a presentation on induced lactation in men,\u201d its president wrote.<\/p>\n
The stated purpose, the ALCI said, was to help professionals provide appropriate and respectful support to gender-diverse families.<\/p>\n
The abstracts also show that one session was indeed to discuss induced lactation, alongside other topics including the effects of testosterone.<\/p>\n
Its learning objectives included advising parents on questions about induced lactation and lactating while taking testosterone.<\/p>\n
The ALCI also told McHugh that online commentary had put its HSE funding and conference costs at more than \u20ac100,000, which it said was \u201centirely inaccurate\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ALCI\u2019s signed grant agreement allocated \u20ac9,000 to the organisation for 2026, although the organisation had applied for \u20ac20,000.<\/p>\n
On 25 August, Engelsman gave the ALCI written assurances about the proposed sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe content will be evidence-informed and relevant to the practice of lactation consultants,\u201d he wrote, adding that the talks would be \u201cevidence-informed\u201d and would respect \u201cprofessional boundaries\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also offered to provide slides or outlines in advance for review.<\/p>\n
The same day, a journalist queried the HSE about its funding of the ALCI and Engelsman\u2019s book.<\/p>\n
The query stated that the conference would feature a talk that would \u201cinclude advice for men and trans-men on lactation or \u2018chest-feeding\u2019\u201d and mentioned Engelsman by name.<\/p>\n
In its response, the HSE defended the opportunity for practitioners to improve their knowledge and skills in supporting families of different structures and backgrounds, describing it as necessary and in line with equality legislation and inclusion strategies.<\/p>\n
Dozens of complaints<\/p>\n
In the days that followed, the HSE began receiving dozens of complaints about the event, some of which accused Engelsman and the ALCI of promoting child abuse.<\/p>\n
Several cited newspaper reports on the conference, some mentioned wasting \u201cvaluable taxpayers\u2019 money\u201d and one person repeated the incorrect claim that the ALCI received \u20ac100,000 a year from the HSE.<\/p>\n
In an email sent to McHugh on 29 August, the ALCI\u2019s president said the situation had escalated sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last 24 hours, this has moved beyond social media; we have received direct personal threats to Council volunteers and to staff at our conference venue,\u201d the president wrote.<\/p>\n
The venue had cancelled the 9-10 October booking the previous evening, the president said.<\/p>\n
The ALCI had asked for written confirmation and a refund of its deposit. It also paused ticket sales and temporarily removed the programme and speaker details from its website.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the conference moves virtually or to a different in-person venue, we cannot proceed with his sessions due to ongoing safety concerns for Jacob, our members, our volunteers, and the venue staff,\u201d the president wrote.<\/p>\n
The email said that the ALCI had offered Engelsman the chance to deliver both talks afterwards as recordings or in a members-only webinar, with his full fee honoured: \u201cthe work of this speaker is not the concern\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ALCI also said it planned to tell ticket holders there had been a programme change on health and safety grounds without naming Engelsman individually.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not how any of us foreseen [sic]\u00a0this would go, but we have been left with no other option,\u201d its president wrote.<\/p>\n
The HSE also received political representations about the conference after this.<\/p>\n
In an email to the HSE on 30 August, independent TD Carol Nolan cited allegations circulating online about the ALCI council members, though\u00a0she acknowledged that they might not be substantiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether these claims are ultimately substantiated or not, the fact that they are circulating widely and that they relate directly to individuals in senior ALCI roles, demands an immediate and transparent response from the HSE,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
The ALCI told members on 1 September that the conference would move fully online because of concerns for delegates, speakers, members, venue staff and its council.<\/p>\n
In a statement earlier this month<\/a>, the ALCI said the subject matter from Engelsman\u2019s previous presentations that had attracted public attention \u201cwas not part of the proposed ALCI programme\u201d, and said it did not promote or endorse it.<\/p>\nThe association said it had selected him to speak about lactation support for gender-diverse families and inclusive clinical practice, but that he was no longer participating in the conference.<\/p>\n
The ALCI said its established speaker approval processes had been followed, including consideration by its council and review by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners as part of the application for continuing education points.<\/p>\n
It said it would reflect on the events of recent weeks, including its processes and communication, and identify any improvements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THREATS TO VOLUNTEERS and staff at a Galway hotel prompted organisers of a lactation conference to abandon plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[281758,4500,53455,2120,61,60,281759,217651,43,2733],"class_list":["post-665415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-association-of-lactation-consultants-in-ireland","tag-galway","tag-health-service","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jacob-engelsman","tag-lactation","tag-news","tag-october"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}