I am aware of the views expressed by the Irish Family Planning Association regarding the availability of the morning after pill. The question of licensing any medicinal product and the conditions which should attach to its sale are matters for the Irish Medicines Board in the first instance. The board has informed me that, to date, it has not received an application for the licensing of a particular product intended for use as a post-coital contraceptive pill.
The current medical practice in Ireland is that an increased dose of the ordinary contraceptive pill is prescribed as emergency contraception and, in this form, the morning after pill has been available in this jurisdiction for many years. In addition, the Irish Medicines Board, after careful consideration, including the obtaining of legal advice, has decided that the drug specifically intended for use as emergency contraception may be classified as a contraceptive. It has concluded that, subject to the normal requirements of the licensing process, this drug may be authorised for sale in Ireland. That position would be consolidated by the Government's proposals under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
