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A PUBLIC CONSULTATION has been launched today on increasing access to contraception, Health Minister Simon Harris has announced.
Earlier this year, Harris established a working group to consider the policy, regulatory and legislative issues relating to better access to contraception.
The access to free contraception was a recommendation made by the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, and something that Harris said he was hoping to introduce this year.
Harris told TheJournal.ie last September that he was aiming to give all women access to free contraception in 2019.
The public consultation will remain open until midnight on Monday 5 August and is available on the Department of Health website.
“Removing barriers to contraception in a key priority for me as Minister for Health,” Harris said.
“We have begun that work through the expansion of free access to condoms this year. This allows for expanded access to the groups most at risk, and within the youth sector, including third level facilities.”
Harris added that it is important the government hears from the public and stakeholders and allows them to have their say on the issue.
“I would encourage all those with an interest to engage with the Department’s consultation before it concludes. It is our ambition to have the working group’s report concluded by September,” Harris said.
The responses from the consultation will inform the working group’s examination of the issue and will help the group to make appropriate recommendations to the Minister on policy options.
The working group is examining the extent to which cost is a barrier to accessing reliable methods of contraception in Ireland.
It is also look at whether there are other factors influencing ease of access to contraception which could be addressed.
Some of the areas the group is looking at also include financial barriers, legislative barriers, regulatory issues, and contractual issues.
Current situation
Currently, women who have a medical card can access contraception for free. However, those that do not often have to pay for an initial doctor’s consultation as well as a repeat appointment every six months or so in order to get their prescription renewed.
Women also have to pay for the pill every month or for their chosen contraceptive device, such as the implant or the coil.
TheJournal.ie revealed in January that the minister has been lobbied by a pharmaceutical company and the pharmacy union in recent months, as plans for the promised rollout of free contraception for all women moves closer.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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They’ve been giving our free jonnies for decades in the North for the unemployed. Quite a smart long term strategy really.
Imagine how many more bonfires and kneecappings there’d be now if there were more unwanted children roaming the council estates.
@Russel Steapot: not to worry the male contraceptive pill is on its way.couldn’t be dependent on those women these day’s.
@Russel Steapot: there’s free condoms accessible in the numerous sexual health and family planning places around the country. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to walk into boots and buy a fancy dan light up, vibrating ribbed for her pleasure condom.
I can see the government pulling out off this.
@Robbie Clancy: I’m sure it will come out a success in the end
Providing the pill FOC is to be applauded but how about making the snip more accessible for those of us who fall outside the medical card (and thus get it free bracket).
€4/500 isn’t much in the grand scheme of things but with a young family it can be if you’re only making ends meet & outside medical card income limits. I’m lucky enough to be able to squirrel away 50 a month to save for it whilst we await our 3rd arrival. A little discomfort on my end saves my wife the hassle of pills that have side effects & other options that she’s not to keen on. Subsidising it pays back within 2/3 child benefit payments…
You’d think this is the sort of issue the “Love Both” crowd would be concentrating on!
@Sirius:
Every sperm is sacred!
@Gearoid: so is every horn, never waste one.
For a start, stop charging VAT on con doms. Is there nothing safe from the taxman!
Free jonnies for the lads would be a good start
Reduce, reuse, recycle! The last thing we need is more rubbers dumped I the ocean.
Pro tip – once the condom is used, attached it to the kitchen sink tap (similar to how you would fill a water balloon), give it a good rinse, hang it out on the line as you would with any old pair of socks. Leave it to dry for 2-3 hours.
Word of warning do not iron!! Simply wait for the one eyed purple headed yogurt slinger to come alive and slip it on. This process can be repeated up to 25 times.
Thanks in advance.
Will they also be offering free fertility treatment to couples who cannot afford to pay thousands of Euros for fertility treatment who have been unsuccessful in trying to conceive a child naturally
Why didn’t this happen BEFORE the abortion referendum?? Every little helps
This sounds like a cover up
The oral contraceptive pill costs about €5 a week for private patients and 50c a week for medical card patients. (Thats inclusive of doctors fees.) Hardly exorbitant. Less than a pint in the pub or a couple of Lattes. Surely there are more pressing health concerns that the Minister should be spending our money on.
Contraception? No thanks!
have your say