Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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461. To ask the Minister for Health if acupuncture, massage-based therapy and reflexology will be available to Magdalen women; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6975/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014, which was published by the Minister for Justice, completed Report and Final Stages in the Dáil last week.

The Bill is to make provision for services to be made available without charges to certain women who were admitted to and worked in certain institutions. The Bill also ensures that those women shall not be required to pay charges for acute in-patient services, and to amend the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009.

While the final provisions of the Bill will be determined on completion of the Oireachtas debate, I am aware that there is no provision in the Bill for the services referred to by the Deputy.

However, as alluded to by the Minister for Justice during the course of the Dáil debates on the Bill, at her request, her officials will look at the question of providing some funding to the participants in the redress scheme so that they may avail of complementary therapies. This would be a separate scheme run on an administrative rather than statutory basis.