Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her amendment but at this time the Government does not propose to proceed with its inclusion. The Deputy will be aware that the Bill, as previously drafted, aimed to provide for regulations to be put in place to enable pharmacists to sell and supply certain prescription products in line with protocol, and this aimed to facilitate the sale and supply of oral contraceptive pills on that basis. However, oral contraceptive pills will now be included in what can be prescribed by pharmacists working in a retail pharmacy business who have undertaken appropriate training and in accordance with regulations. At no time was the purpose of the Bill to change the status of oral contraceptive pills from prescription only to non-prescription products and that is not what we will do.

We welcome the Deputy’s support for enhanced access to contraception but six months is not a feasible timeframe to introduce the necessary changes and report back on impacts. While we share her ambitions in this area, our focus will be on introducing expanded options for women, enabling prescribing activity by community pharmacists and embedding awareness of these changes. It is important that women have choice and options for contraception and the Minister introduced the free contraception scheme, which has been very successful and is being further expanded.

In extending prescribing activity for oral contraceptive pills to pharmacists, we will want to preserve the good model of care that has been put in place as part of the free contraceptive scheme and we will be approaching this carefully. As the Deputy said, it is important that women have access to the right contraceptive method for them, their health and their needs.

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