Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Health and its Women’s Health Taskforce are committed to improving health outcomes and experience of healthcare for all women in Ireland and this is reflected in the ongoing work in relation to the Women's Health Action Plan 2022 – 2023 - gov.ie/en/department-of-health/publications/womens-health-action-plan-2022-2023/ - and Women’s Health Action Plan 2024-2025 Phase 2: An Evolution in Women’s Health - www.gov.ie/en/department-of-health/publications/womens-health-action-plan-2024-2025-phase-2-an-evolution-in-womens-health/.

A Women's Health Taskforce was established by the Department of Health to improve women’s health outcomes and experiences of healthcare in September 2019.

The Taskforce has modelled “open policy making” working in a collaborative way, involving policy makers, clinicians, international partners, advocates, health experts and the voices of women through workshops, research and outreach.

The Taskforce has listened to, engaged with and worked with individuals and organisations representing women across the country. This feedback has informed Ireland’s women’s health plans.

The Women’s Health Taskforce has more than 30 members from all grades and divisions within the Department of Health. Members external to Government Departments include the National Traveller Women’s Forum and the National Women’s Council, which maintains an extensive network of women and women’s advocacy groups representing ethnic minorities. The NWC has built an established and trusted relationship with these groups and provides consistent advocacy through their participation with the Women’s Health Taskforce.

Listening:

Hearing diverse voices and experiences is vitally important in informing the work of the Women’s Health Taskforce and in supporting the development of the Women’s Health Action Plans. In order to develop the most comprehensive plan that represented all demographics of women in Ireland, the Women’s Health Taskforce engaged in a number of important consultations.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland facilitated a series of four workshops with a total of 50 marginalised women of different backgrounds, including:

• Disabled women (17)
• Women of Minority Ethnicity (19)
• Women Living in Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Communities (9)
• Women Survivors of Violence and Abuse (9)

Participation in these workshops was based on self-identification with the theme of the respective workshop and a “radical listening” approach was deployed to ensure that women could share openly on their experiences of the healthcare system. A number of concerns were raised by the women in each of the workshops; all of which were recorded and considered when developing the Women’s Health Action Plan. While the National Women’s Council focused solely on marginalised women in their workshops, a further “radical listening” exercise was completed with women across all ages and backgrounds that was attended by 200+ participants. Results of these listening exercises can be found here: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-health/publications/significant-milestone-as-minister-donnelly-publishes-a-report-of-womens-voices-on-womens-health-following-a-radical-listening-exercise-this-year/

In September 2019, the Women’s Health Taskforce engaged with members of the public via their Webpage, asking the following question: “If I could make one change to improve health outcomes for women and girls in Ireland, it would be...”. This consultation received over 500 responses, and this was used to inform the early work of the Taskforce.

Additionally, the Women’s Health Taskforce mailbox has served as an important communication channel to the Taskforce for members of the public, advocacy groups, individuals, and other stakeholders. Many emails received are from members of the public sharing their experiences of women’s healthcare in Ireland.

Women's Experiences of Healthcare in Ireland Listening Forum 2025:

As part of the Women's Health Action Plan 2024-2025 Phase 2: An Evolution in Women's Health, a new "Patient Voice" listening exercise, to hear from women about their experiences of our healthcare services over recent years, was conducted in April 2025.

The Women's Experiences of Healthcare in Ireland Listening Forum, in partnership with the National Women's Council of Ireland, consisted of two workstreams.

1. Workstream A, led by the Department of Health, focused on broad engagement with women from various backgrounds. This included women in all their diversity in both online and in-person engagements. The approach differed from workstream B in that the recruitment process was not targeted at specific communities or at women with specific experiences.

A recruitment survey was published by the Department of Health to receive applications from those interested in participating in the Forum. There was a number of demographic questions in this survey: age, geographic location, ethnic background. Further to this, women were asked about the services they have experienced and whether they represent a group/organisation with a specific interest in any health area.

This involved conducting four structured listening forums including two in-person events and two online events involving 69 women from diverse ages and backgrounds. The ethnicity of the women included:

- White Irish (52)

- Black or Black Irish – African (7)

- Arab (1)

- Asian or Asian Irish – Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi (4)

- Any other white background (4)

- Other including mixed background (1)

2. Workstream B, led by National Women’s Council, was designed as a targeted initiative to capture the experiences of women facing significant structural and health inequalities and who are often categorised as “priority” groups in national policies.

This involved 73 participants taking part in listening sessions and interviews, and a Collective Event, the project engaged Traveller women, Roma women, migrant women, disabled women, LGBTQ+ communities, older women, women experiencing homelessness and addiction, and survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV). The ethnicity of the women included:

- White Irish (18)

- Roma (10)

- Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi (1)

- Mixed (1)

- Traveller (36)

- Any other white background (2)

- Black African (5)

The Women’s Health Taskforce recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion in all areas of healthcare. The consultation process in the development of the Women’s Health Action Plans reflects this commitment to diversity and representation of all women in Ireland.

The Women’s Health Taskforce is dedicated to listening to the voices of all women. It is important to share opinions and experiences in order to continue to make developments in women’s healthcare. Any member of the public is welcome to submit their views to the Taskforce via email to: WomensHealthTaskforce@health.gov.ie