Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2021
288. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health the legal rationale underpinning the age limit of 17 to 25 years of age for those accessing free contraception as set out in the €31 million women’s health package in Budget 2022;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51700/21]
View answerThe Programme for Government commits to providing free contraception for women, starting with the 17-25 age cohort; accordingly, funding for free contraception, starting with women aged 17-25, has been allocated in 2022.
The scheme will provide for:
- The cost of prescription contraception
- The cost of fitting and/or removal of various types of long-acting reversible contraception and administration of contraceptive injections plus any necessary checks, by medical professionals certified to fit/remove same;
- The cost of training and certifying additional medical professionals to fit and remove long-acting reversible contraception;
- The cost of a maximum of two consultations per annum with GPs and other doctors to discuss forms of contraception suitable for individual patients and to enable prescription of same.
- Training and certification of additional GPs to fit long-acting reversible contraception
It is envisaged that a wide range of contraceptive options, currently available to medical card holders, will be made available through this scheme. This includes contraceptive injections, implants, various types of intrauterine system (IUS) or device (IUD; commonly known as the coil), the contraceptive patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill.
As noted by the Report of the Working Group on Contraception, which is available on my Department’s website, the justifications for the phased and incremental introduction of free contraception are based on the differential barriers faced in accessing the most effective forms of contraception by different age cohorts, and likely supply-side constraints.
The initiative is gradually being introduced by age cohort, starting with younger women who are least likely to be financially independent and where cost has been shown to be a greater barrier to accessing the most effective forms of contraception, long acting, reversible contraception, or LARCs.
The Report advises that an issue highlighted by both the research review, and by many stakeholders, is a possible lack of capacity to deliver some forms of contraception. Many forms of LARC require specialised certification and training in terms of fitting and removal. The costs of prescription contraception medications and/or medical devices are currently covered under the GMS scheme, for those holding a medical card, while clinical costs are covered under both the medical and GP visit cards.
However, for private patients, the up-front costs of various LARCs were estimated by the Report at €250 - €350 in 2018-2019; with the majority of stakeholders reporting this as a barrier to access, particularly for younger women. The removal of cost barriers is almost certainly going to increase demand for these services.
In developing the scheme, this has been taken into account and funding has been provided in Budget 2022 for training and certification of additional GPs to fit LARCs,. However, this upskilling is likely to take time, hence the adoption of a phased approach to implementation, as outlined in the Programme for Government.
Providing free contraception to the age cohort of 17-24 year old women was one of the recommended options in the Report. This was extended to 17-25 in the Program for Government and this is the rationale for the initial rollout announced in Budget 2022.
