Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I want to raise concerns with the Taoiseach about the Government's so-called free HRT scheme. I pay tribute to Joe Duffy, who has announced his retirement from "Liveline", for shining a light through the programme on the experiences of women in menopause, women dealing with a cancer diagnosis and others whose lives have been made liveable by access to hormone replacement therapy. As we all know, the cost is prohibitive and supply remains an issue. The Taoiseach announced a very welcome new HRT scheme that would be free but the deadline for the introduction of the scheme is almost upon us. There are only 18 days until 1 June. Women throughout the country are contacting us all. They are so anxious to know what is happening.

Most pharmacists tell us they cannot implement the scheme and the reimbursement scheme, apparently, has problems with IT. We need to hear that the scheme will be up and running on 1 June. It sounds like it is becoming an omnishambles and women need to know whether they will have access to free HRT as promised on 1 June.

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