Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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551. To ask the Minister for Health the progress he has made in delivering the commitments made in the HIV Paris Declaration to fast-tracking measures to end AIDS by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47484/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The provision of services to those affected by HIV is a priority action under the National Sexual Health Strategy 2015 - 2020. A major landmark was reached in the implementation of this action through the implementation of the national programme of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment by the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP).

PrEP is now being delivered in a phased manner through approved services that meet the National Standards for PrEP Service Delivery. There are currently thirteen public and nine private approved PrEP service providers in Ireland; details are available through the following link: www.sexualwellbeing.ie/getprep . Full funding of €5.4 million was secured for PrEP in 2020 and for subsequent years, including allocations for the recruitment of additional staff.

Whilst the PrEP programme remains fully funded, implementation has been impacted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. All health services, including STI/HIV/PrEP services, are continuing to face constraints, resulting from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. These include attendance by appointment only, or online as a result of the need to maintain social distancing, and the necessary redeployment of personnel to diverse COVID-19 related duties, which include testing, contact tracing, vaccination and front-line patient care.

Despite significant service restrictions in 2020/21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, PrEP services continued to see new and review existing PrEP service users. Many services adapted how they worked, delivering some care on a virtual platform.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the HSE SHCPP has been in regular communication with public STI/PrEP services and community partners, and is working together with HIV Ireland to maintain an updated list of service availability. Information for users on how to access services is available here: www.hivireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/Sexual-Health-Service-Restrictions.pdf.

Services have been working hard to restore and increase service capacity throughout 2021 notwithstanding the challenges faced by the ongoing pandemic, the recent cyber-attack and, most recently, a national Early Infectious Syphilis outbreak.

The Paris Declaration referred to by the Deputy is a commitment made by cities participating in the Fast Track Cities global initiative to scale up their local responses to HIV. Ireland joined this initiative in 2019 with initial funding of €450K provided to the HSE, to support commencement of the initiative in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick.

Fast Track Cities implementation includes expanded community HIV testing and outreach in key urban centres, targeted outreach to key at-risk groups, public campaigns on stigma reduction and promotion of the PrEP programme, and development of a co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation workstream. Steering groups, which include representation from my Department and the HSE SHCPP, have been established and are now in place, working to progress this initiative in the participating cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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552. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to increase the testing of HIV; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47485/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented interruption to normal healthcare activity in 2020/2021, affecting the provision of all healthcare services, including public STI clinics.

Over the last 18 months, public STI services have re-configured services, establishing online booking systems and providing virtual appointments, in order to support service provision in line with social distancing and infection prevention control requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public STI clinics have prioritised those with symptoms and who require treatment, in order to treat active infections and minimise onward transmission. The GMHS website and other resources such as www.man2man.ie and www.sexualwellbeing.ie are regularly updated to reflect current service delivery and to signpost users to the HSE list of approved STI and PrEP services.

The HSE is continuing to progress a number of initiatives that aim to reduce the level of HIV and STIs nationally and improve access to services for those in need as follows:

- The promotion of safer sex messages to the public via a range of social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

- During the pandemic, the public has been advised about STI clinic restrictions and encouraged to consider safer sexual practices to reduce the risk of HIV and STI transmission.

- Guidance has been issued around sex and COVID-19 which advised the public to limit numbers of partners to reduce transmission of HIV/STIs as well as COVID-19 during the pandemic.

- Those who are symptomatic are advised to contact a clinic directly for an emergency appointment.

- Condoms are freely available to NGO partners and service providers via the National Condom Distribution (NCDS) service.

- A number of NGOs have established postal services to make condoms and lubricant accessible to service-users throughout the pandemic while venues were closed.

- Ireland joined the HIV Fast-Track Cities Initiative in 2019; the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway are current members of HIV Fast Track Cities; implementation of the initiative is progressing, with HIV FTC Steering Groups now in place for each of the four cities.

- Free rapid HIV testing is available in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick through community NGO partners HIV Ireland, Sexual Health Centre Cork, Sexual Health West and GOSHH. NGO partners have adapted their services and are currently providing free rapid HIV testing from their offices or alternative venues.

- STI/HIV testing is currently available through a HSE home STI testing pilot project in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Cork and Kerry (funded by the Sláintecare Integration Fund). This pilot commenced in early 2021, in Dublin, Cork and Kerry initially, overseen by the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme through SH24.

- As a result of high demand, and in response to the pressures imposed by a public health declared early infectious syphilis outbreak, the HSE SHCPP in consultation with my Department, have extended the pilot to additional areas (Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) and for an additional time period. The possibility of further expansion is being scoped currently, given the need for the service and its success in reaching cohorts that are typically underrepresented amongst those presenting in person at STI clinics.

As this is a service matter, I have also asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.