Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome this plan today. It is certainly a decision to move in the right direction. As has been said by many others, we have had a chequered past in regard to women's health in this country. Hopefully, we can keep that in the past and ensure there is no reoccurrence of it.

I particularly want to raise with the Minister today the issues in regard to menopause services, particularly for women in rural Ireland. The two issues are the lack of services nationwide; and the shortages we are experiencing right now across the entire country in regard to hormone replacement therapy, which are having a negative impact on many women's lives. Deputy Cullinane and others in Sinn Féin produced a survey recently in respect of that and a policy document around it. The stakeholders were unanimous in saying it is far too difficult to get access to trusted and relevant information, especially in rural areas, and there are no private clinics such as exist in some of the urban settings which people can sometimes access. The public clinic, which is now open in Dublin, of course, is only dealing with the most complex of cases. That needs to be recognised and I welcome that there is work being done to advance this.

Deputy Cullinane and my party leader engaged with the Minister in regard to ensuring action is taken to deal with these shortages of crucial medicines that women need. On the notion that this is somehow always an issue for the HPRA to deal with and that it can be left to the authority, the Minister needs to take grip of this particular issue and not pass it on to an agency to deal with because it simply is not working and it is too significant. The medication regarded by many in this particular instance would be as important as beta blockers or, indeed, anti-depressants, if they were missing and people were not able to use them who had issues there. We need to recognise the real importance of them.

I acknowledge that this is movement in the right direction but given the particular conditions that many women face when they are menopausal, it is problematic that so many GPs in the country do not take it seriously and do not deal with it, as I know from talking to women. Interestingly, this was brought to light through Mr. Joe Duffy's radio show a couple of months ago when it was spoken about over a couple of weeks. On occasion, I have issue with some of what Mr. Duffy may do but sometimes he does a good job on something. On that particular item, Mr. Duffy did a good job of highlighting that issue and ensuring it was brought to the forefront in people's minds and, hopefully, in the minds of policymakers as well.

I welcome the document. I will put full wind in the Minister's sails if he can deliver on it and ensure it is delivered on for everyone, particularly for the many women in the country who have been let down in the past.

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