John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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677. To ask the Minister for Health for an update in relation to his Department’s activities at the EPSCO (Health) Council on 21 June; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29167/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted its final meeting of Health Ministers on 21 June in Luxembourg. Ireland’s delegation was led by Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler.

The main agenda item was a policy debate on the legislative file relating to the Pharmaceutical Package. The Government is very conscious of the importance of retaining a competitive pharmaceutical industry in the EU and Ireland. During her intervention, Minister Butler clearly articulated the Government’s position on this crucial legislative file, and spoke of the need to find the right balance to address three key objectives:

• Access to safe and effective medicines for patients,
• Sustainability of national health systems, and
• Retention of a strong, innovative, pharmaceutical sector.

1. A call for action at the EU level to protect young people from harm caused by novel tobacco and nicotine products – Information from Latvian delegation.
2. Danish Position Paper on tobacco and nicotine.
3. Health situation in Gaza – Information from the Spanish delegation.
4. A call for action on HIV from the Romanian delegation.
5. Impact of excessive national stockpiling strategies on the EU solidarity – Information from the Czech delegation.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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678. To ask the Minister for Health to report on Ireland’s contribution on combatting vaccine-preventable cancers at the EPSCO (Health) Council on 21 June; the reason for not contributing verbally on this topic; the planned next steps towards achieving this goal in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29168/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted its final meeting of Health Ministers on 21 June in Luxembourg. Ireland’s delegation was led by Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler.

The main agenda item was a policy debate on the legislative file relating to the Pharmaceutical Package. On non-legislative items, the Council approved Council Conclusions on the Future Health Union that aim to keep Health high on the EU agenda. It also adopted a non-contentious Council Recommendation on Cancer Preventable vaccines. Ireland welcomes both initiatives.

The Belgian Presidency then updated the Ministers on (i) the events held during their presidency, (ii) negotiations of the Pandemic Agreement and revisions of the International Health Regulations, and (iii) WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Hungarian Minister then presented the work programme of their upcoming presidency (July – December 2024). There were five A.O.B.s proposed by the delegations. The meeting then concluded with a closed-door working lunch on equitable access to healthcare in EU Member States, attended by Minister Butler.

Ministerial interventions are decided following an assessment of their strategic needs, as well as based on the time allocated by the Presidency for each agenda item (typically three minutes for policy debate and one minute for other interventions).

Seeking to intervene on each agenda item is not a practical approach, especially within the very tight schedule that the Presidency is trying to keep. If all 27 Member States were to express their support on all non-contentious items for approval, the Presidency would have an impossible task in chairing these meetings.

For example, Ireland had already indicated its support and approval of the two non-legislative files (the Council Conclusions and Council Recommendations) during the meetings of the Working Party on Public Health where they were negotiated, and as Ireland had no concern nor objection on either of these files, there was no strategic value in seeking a one-minute intervention to re-iterate said support.

Therefore, interventions at EPSCO were focussed on (i) the political debate on the Pharmaceutical Package, (ii) on equitable access to healthcare at the working lunch, and (iii) on A.O.B. items related to tobacco & nicotine, the healthcare situation in Gaza, and stockpiling.

The Deputy will be aware that Ireland has had a HPV vaccination programme in place for girls since 2010 and for boys since 2019.

As the HPV vaccine is preventative, it is intended to be administered, if possible, before a person becomes exposed to HPV infection. Therefore, the gender-neutral HPV vaccination programme, in line with NIAC advice, targets all girls and boys in first year of secondary school to provide maximum coverage and protection.

Ireland recently ran a targeted HPV vaccination catch-up programme. The Laura Brennan HPV vaccination catch up programme commenced in late 2022 and ran until December 2023, offering HPV vaccines free of charge to females who were 24 years of age or younger and males who were 21 years of age or younger. Approximately 11,000 people received HPV vaccination through this programme.

In relation to uptake, a provisional uptake rate of 78.4% was recorded for the HPV vaccine in first year for 2022/2023 (refers to single dose only, due to policy change to a single dose of HPV vaccine).

More generally, the HSE has established a National Immunisation Oversight Committee (NIOC) which meets quarterly to discuss immunisation challenges and to agree actions. The group focus on vaccine uptakes rates and the actions that are currently being undertaken to increase uptake rates across programmes.

In addition, a HSE Taskforce has been set up in response to declining immunisation rates. Through analysis of available data and intelligence, it will provide evidence-based expert advice and guidance to increase uptake of recommended vaccine programmes to target coverage levels and reduce the risk of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.