Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I see no issue in coming back to the committee before the end of October. The officials are working on how we move below the age of 17. I agree with the Deputy's point on the anomaly. I am putting forward similar arguments. That is my view on it. The reason we have chosen the 17 to 25 age group has nothing to do with any legalities. The reason we have started with the 17 to 25 age group is that we received expert advice to that effect. It is based on an expert recommendation to have the biggest impact for women. It is only where we are starting. We had to start somewhere. The age group of 16 and under is not related to the legislation here. I just want to make sure the legislation is legally robust. As I have said, we got recent legal advice that we needed to do this by statute. Previously, the understanding was that we did not need to bring forward legislation. The view was that it was just an administrative scheme, and what we planned on doing was just like adding elements to the drug payments scheme or something similar. However, it turns out that is not the case, which is why we have the legislation before us. I am more than happy to come back to the committee. I and my officials can engage with the Joint Oireachtas committee on Health on the matter. I fully intend for us to come back here in the next Dáil term to pass amending legislation this year. The plan for this year was always to provide services for the 17 to 25 age group. I invite Members to engage with me and to pass on their views on the provision of services for other age groups. We can have a discussion on other age groups and the funding involved. It is expensive. Given that we will have a set amount of money for new developments in health for the budget for next year, if we want to put aside €5 million, €10 million or €15 million, there will be areas we cannot fund. We need to bear that in mind. I would love to see funding being directed towards the provision of IVF in the next year through the budget. I would like to get that going. I am very happy to hear the thoughts of Members on that and to engage with them on the issue.

In response to Deputy Smith, the rationale for the clause is exactly as I said. I would much prefer if the subsection were not included in the legislation. It is included only because we need to make sure the Bill, which we are passing very quickly, is legally robust and stands up to any challenge. What I would like, and what I intend to do, is to introduce amending legislation to deal with that, so that we can provide services for those aged under 17.

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