David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important for us to tease this out, and I think I am getting there in terms of what the Minister is proposing. I do not want to take away from the positivity of this measure, because it is extremely important. Women will ask us, however, what the likely prescription charge is going to be. For medical card holders, for example, it was free prescriptions, with everything covered, and the Government brought in a prescription charge for medical card holders. This has been brought down and is now at €1.50. I assume from what the Minister is saying that the charge for women prescribed HRT or the patches is going to be higher than €1.50 or even €2.50. If a woman asks me how much she will have to pay, I have no answer. I cannot answer the question, unless the Minister has some answer. When we were bringing this legislation in, I would have assumed we would have had engagements with the Irish Pharmacy Union and reached some agreement on what a cap or a reasonable price might be. I would prefer if the entire cost were covered, but as it turns out, I cannot say to women it is free because free means you do not pay anything. That is what free is in my world. Women will have to pay something but we do not know what that something will be.

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