Laura Harmon (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate her. It is clear she has hit the ground running in her brief. I wish her well.

The first issue I wish to raise is that we will always need to have stand-alone discussions on women's health because it is a specific subject, just as we must also have stand-alone discussions on Traveller women's health or LGBTQ women's health.

There are so many different areas within health. Even within postcodes, it is probable that there are variations. Will the Minister comment on BreastCheck screening and if there are plans to extend that based on age to younger women in the between 20 and 49 age group.

Endometriosis was mentioned by a number of Senators. It is concerning that we were promised a national framework on that in April of last year and that such a framework has not been fully published. The regional hubs are welcome, but they need to be resourced.

I would welcome an update on how the roll-out of free HRT is progressing. It is great to see the roll-out of free period products. That matter was not really talked about until a number of years ago. It is good to see the progress there in destigmatising periods and the issue of women's health in general. A challenge on healthcare generally is tackling misinformation and disinformation, particularly in relation to vaccines. It is concerning when we hear of decreases in the uptake of the HPV vaccine. It is encouraging to hear the Minister speaking about plans in that regard.

One matter the Minister mentioned is that, in general, women live longer than men. From my experience in the community when I was canvassing, you would see a lot of loneliness and isolation among older women. Sometimes they outlive their partners, and loneliness is a huge contributor to a number of different health issues, be it cardiovascular problems, depression or anxiety. There is probably an initiative needed with other Departments in the context of how we tackle loneliness. We will be having a debate on aspects of this matter later.