Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to improving health experiences and outcomes for all women and girls. The women’s health task force, set up in 2019 to drive progress on this issue, identified menopause as a priority issue. It has listened to women about what they would like to see delivered in this area, and the call for information and education has been heard strongly. The three key points are: menopause will be included as a topic within the new online citizens' health guides; a repository site of trusted sources of women's health information, including the topic of menopause, will be developed over the coming months; and the women’s health task force intends to run an education and communication campaign.

I will take on board the point the Deputy made about having it included in the roll-out of SPHE in secondary schools with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. Activity is planned or under way to provide the best support in this area. Women’s health will be represented on the healthy workplace framework implementation group, to be set up later this year. Through delivering this activity, the Department will ensure heightened awareness of menopause and access to trusted information for the women of Ireland.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The highlighting of women’s health is overdue and is much welcomed. I compliment the Joe Duffy programme for highlighting this issue and giving women the forum that they needed to talk to other people. As I was travelling yesterday, there was a doctor on the radio who was able to answer some really significant questions.

For some of the women, it was the first time they had ever aired or spoken about this subject in public. I am very happy to work with the Deputies to get this over the line.

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