Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator very much. I agree with her; that is why the food banks were mentioned. Like she said, the likes of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are important.

My understanding is that free contraception will commence in August as planned.

I will touch on one point that was not raised but that comes under my remit, which is perinatal mental health supports. We currently have six main hubs across the country. All 13 spoke sites now have mental health midwives in place under the model of care for specialist perinatal mental health services for women before, during and after their pregnancy. Sometimes people can have mental health difficulties and to have those 19 perinatal mental health midwives in place throughout whole country is really positive.

We have been have been actively progressing a commitment for €31 million in additional funding for women's health in budget 2022. In the coming weeks, we will launch the women's health action plan for 2022-23 setting out the actions that will realise the investment.

I thank the Senator and other women Members of both Houses for raising their voices on women's health. It is very timely and great to see. It is great to have the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, support all our calls and have our voices heard.