David Cullinane
Ceist:1632. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of extending free contraception to women aged 25-55 years at 50%, 75% and 100% uptake in age bands of five years. [29866/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 14 June 2022
Ceisteanna (1632)
Freagraí scríofa
The Report of the Working Group on Access to Contraception, published in October 2019, identified the barriers that exist to accessing contraception, which include accessibility, information, workforce capacity and, for women who may be just above the eligibility threshold for a full GMS (medical) card, cost.In consideration of the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the 8th Amendment to the Constitution (JOC8) and the findings of the Working Group on Contraception, the Programme for Government, 2020 commits to providing free contraception for women, starting with the 17-25 age cohort. My Department’s Contraception Implementation Group was convened in July, 2021 and has been meeting on a monthly basis. The Group has been working towards commencing the scheme in August 2022, in partnership with the HSE and other key stakeholders. Funding of approximately €9m has been allocated for roll-out of the scheme in Budget 2022.The scheme will provide for:1. The cost of prescription contraception;2. The cost of necessary consultations with GPs and other doctors to discuss suitable contraception for individual patients and to enable prescription of same;3. The cost of fitting and/or removal of various types of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) plus any necessary checks, by medical professionals certified to fit/remove same;4. The cost of training and certifying additional medical professionals to fit and remove LARCs; the HSE is currently working on preparing to roll out these additional training supports in conjunction with the Irish College of General Practitioners.Provision of the wide range of contraceptive options currently available to GMS (medical) card holders will also be available through this scheme, to include contraceptive injections, implants, IUS and IUDs (coils), the contraceptive patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception.
Full year costings for 17-25 year-olds may be considered in the context of Estimates 2023, but no costings have been finalised to date and no funding allocations for future years agreed at this stage. Estimated costings for wider age ranges have been included in the Report of the Working Group on Contraception, which is available on the Department’s website.