Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to speak to the House on the important topic of building a more positive outlook for women's health. That this Oireachtas has finally placed such an emphasis on women's health is a positive outcome. It is great to hear the different voices in both Houses all supporting one another.

My Department is committed to improving women's health. Since the establishment of the women's health task force in 2019, we have engaged with women all over Ireland. We have listened to what they want from their health service and we have taken a number of positive steps to improve women's experiences of healthcare and health outcomes. We are building supports for tackling period poverty. The Government has supported the Free Provision of Period Products Bill 2021, taking into account the recommendations of the period poverty in Ireland discussion paper. A cross-governmental period poverty implementation group is co-ordinating the development of interventions recommended in the programme for Government, the discussion paper and the Bill. More than €700,000 has been allocated to my Department in 2022 for initial period poverty measures. I hope to have more detail on the Senator's question about schools and universities soon. I would be happy to return to the House and update it on the matter. We are currently working on HSE-led initiatives for members of the Traveller and Roma communities in the south east as well as projects in collaboration with local authorities, for which the majority have already submitted expressions of interest. We are reaching out to the voluntary sector, including food banks, to support as many people as possible.

Following up on the programme for Government commitment, we are preparing to introduce free contraception for women, starting with 17-to-25-year-olds. Funding of €9 million has been allocated for 2022. The scheme will provide the cost of prescription contraception, two GP consultations per year and fitting, removal and check-ups for long-acting reversible contraceptives; and additional training and certification for medical professionals to fit and remove long-acting reversible contraceptives. Contraceptive options will include contraceptive injections, implants, coils, the patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception. As such, it will not be limited to oral contraceptives only. Expanding the scheme to further age cohorts can be considered once we have had a chance to monitor and evaluate the 17-to-25-year-old scheme and ensure that it is working smoothly.

We anticipate significant progress with the roll-out of a number of specialist menopause clinics this year. In 2021, a specialist menopause clinic was established under the governance of the National Maternity Hospital, the first publicly funded clinic of its kind. Budget 2022 provided the necessary funding to enable the roll-out of an additional three specialist menopause clinics. As to the Senator's question on whether they will all be Dublin based, she will be delighted to learn that they will not be. There will be one in Galway, one in Cork and one in Limerick. The three new menopause clinics being established in 2022 will be part of the maternity networks in the South/South West, University Limerick and Saolta hospital groups. This provides a good catchment area around the country. As I understand it, the operationalisation of the new clinics will be dependent on resourcing the necessary staff. In this regard, the HSE's national women and infants health programme has advised that the engagement with the relevant hospital groups is progressing as planned.

Across each of the issues raised under this Commencement matter - period poverty, contraception and menopause - we are committed to progressing the agenda and advancing women's health experiences and outcomes.