Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy 100%, with the caveat that it has to be a matter of choice - I know the Deputy would agree with that too. We asked our group in the Department to bring together all the different units involved in this area in terms of eligibility and the likes as well as health and health policy. We published the report. My officials and others, including representatives of the Irish Family Planning Association, came before the committee in recent weeks. The clear direction of travel here has to be free contraception for every woman in Ireland. The question for those of us around this table - it is a genuinely bipartisan question - is how we phase it and ensure that there is choice. My view of the world is that in 2020 we should begin the legislative process with the group most in need. My reading of the report and my engagement with the Irish Family Planning Association and others suggests that this group is made up of younger woman and women in traditionally vulnerable groups.

People mentioned elections. I genuinely believe that before we go into the general election every party in the House should try to agree on a cross-party basis, as we have done on other contentious issues, that, whoever wins the election, we have a direction of travel. We should agree that between year X and year Y we are going to travel the journey to free contraception. It requires legislation. We can give out free condoms. We are already doing that. We have expanded the national condom distribution service this year and vending machines are going in across colleges. There is a legislative requirement for contraception when going to the doctor and the pharmacy. We should legislate for the availability of free contraception on a phased basis by the end of 2020 or the start of 2021, but we need to agree the roadmap to get to full coverage.