Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we stand here today on International Women's Day, we have the first women's health action plan that shows a new future for women and girls in our country when it comes to health and wellness. As Minister for Health, improving the outcomes and experiences of women in our health system has been, and will remain, a top priority for me. Step-by-step, we have been tackling big issues that matter to women. Today we bring that work together in an action plan that will have a direct and tangible impact on women across the country and at all stages of life.

This action plan tackles a taboo in Irish society, menopause. We are shining a spotlight on better menopause care for women by strengthening the supports available at primary care as well as opening three specialist menopause clinics nationally.

The action plan pushes reproductive rights for women further forward by giving young women access to free contraception and better supports to make informed contraceptive choices in partnership with their GP. At the end of the year, we will have a national network of 20 see-and-treat gynaecology clinics. These clinics are reducing waiting times for women and providing care in just a few hours on one day instead of multiple visits over many months and sometimes years. We are opening special clinics in endometriosis. We are launching initiatives to tackle period poverty. We are opening new services in mental health, including supporting self-harm, eating disorders and perinatal mental health. We are fully funding the national maternity strategy for the second year. We are doubling the number of lactation consultants, opening fertility hubs and much more.

We do not need incremental change in women's healthcare. We do not need things to get a little bit better each year. We need a revolution in women's healthcare. This plan is a big step on that path. All of this work and more have been supported through budget 2020 with the allocation of a milestone figure of €31 million specifically for new developments in women's health services. The full-year cost of these measures is nearly €50 million. We did this to support our goal of improving women's experiences in the health sector by ensuring our action plan for women's health was fully funded from day one.

Today, International Women's Day, marks day one. It is a day to celebrate and to shine a light on the many voices of women who worked with us over the past two years to shape and inform this action plan. Women told us again and again that they wanted a health service that is empathetic and responsive, and that gives women access to expert and compassionate care when they need it. They were clear with us that the issues prioritised in this action plan need to be urgently addressed. They asked us not to delay, not to create the perfect plan, but to act.

I thank women and men throughout Ireland who joined us and shared their experiences with us. I thank the health professionals who have worked with us to shape the ideas and initiatives in this plan. I thank our partners on the women's health task force who worked with us to build so much momentum for change in such a short space of time. I thank the many Deputies and Senators who have campaigned so well, sometimes for years, for many of the measures contained in this plan. The publication of the plan marks a new era in women's health in our country. With this plan, we reaffirm our commitment to keep listening, our commitment to keep acting and our passion to support a health system that prioritises women's health outcomes.

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