Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smyth for providing the opportunity to speak to the activity both under way and intended in this area. I agree with the Deputy that the broadcasting in the last two weeks, although I have not heard all the programmes myself and will listen to them later, did the State some service. I was looking over the notes tonight and saw that the topic was menopause. As one of the Ministers of State at the Department of Health, I am probably well placed to speak on menopause. It is timely that we are having that discussion, that I am here tonight and that I can understand what some of those women are going through.

It is important that the Government recognises that menopause is a key health issue for women in Ireland today, and work is under way to drive progress in this area. This is being driven by the women's health task force, which was convened in September 2019, to improve health outcomes and health experiences for women and girls. A number of initial priority areas for action were determined by the task force, with the issue of menopause recognised and included as one of these priority areas. It is great that that has happened. I thank Deputy Smyth for her interest in so many issues related to women's health. As Deputy Smyth quite rightly said, there is a taboo about talking about menopause openly when it affects so many people's lives. Some 51% of the population of Ireland are female. Many people have husbands and partners so men know much about menopause too. It is great to have us talking on the airwaves about issues which affect everyday life.

Work was undertaken in 2020 to identify areas for activity related to menopause. Evidence, research and stakeholder engagement, which included advocates and women who had experienced menopause, health professionals and policy makers, informed a number of suggested actions to enhance supports for women through menopause. Final actions are still under discussion and development, and it is hoped to announce finalised activity shortly.

The issue of menopause has also been emphasised through the nationwide "radical listening" exercise, which is currently under way, by the women's health task force. This exercise aims to enable women across the country to share their views and experiences of the health sector and health services. There is a large-scale consultation process intended to maximise the participation of women across all life stages from 18 years upwards, including minority and disadvantaged women. A representative sample of 228 women have participated in open interviews and workshops to date, and interim findings have highlighted issues, one of which is menopause. Through this process, taboo around discussing menopause and a lack of trusted information were consistently raised as key issues for women experiencing menopause.

As the Deputy said, increased education and information on menopause is one of the clear requests that has been raised by women, and I am happy to share commitments to deliver on this today. Menopause will be included as a topic within the new online citizen health guides, which are under development by the HSE to meet the health information needs of Irish citizens. Online citizen health guides will support the current and future information needs of citizens by providing a reliable, single source of information which can be republished across other healthcare systems. A women's health information repository site of trusted sources will be developed over the coming months, which will include the topic of menopause. The women's health task force intends to run an education and communication campaign to highlight information on specific women's health issues, which will include menopause.

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