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CONTRACEPTION SHOULD BE free for all women and girls from 16 upwards, according to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who indicated he’d like to see further movement in this year’s budget.
The free contraception scheme was expanded in July to include women aged 32-35, having already applied for women aged 17-31.
Speaking to The Journal this week, the minister said: “For me, contraception should be for all women from 16 up, that should be it. We’re certainly getting there. We’re now 17 to 35. I want to go 16 to any age.”
When asked if such an announcement will be made on budget day, he said: “That’s a matter for budgetary discussions.”
However, it is understood there is a push to get free contraception expanded to older women over this year and next, if the minister’s party is restored to power after an election.
In Budget 2023, the government also committed to expanding free contraception to those aged 16 years of age.
There is no set minimum age in Ireland at which contraceptive advice and prescriptions may be provided. The age of consent to sexual activity is 17 in Ireland.
Last year, the Irish Family Planning Association, while welcoming the expansion of the free contraception programme, said it was concerned that the extension does not include 16-year-olds.
It said a clear commitment was given by government and funding was allocated to cover this age group within the scheme.
It has urged the government to expand the scheme to 16 year olds “as a matter of priority” and called on the government to resolve the potential legal barriers to their access to free contraception.
In addition to expanding access to free contraception, Donnelly said he also wants to expand the eligibility criteria for those in need of fertility treatments, such as IVF, as well as rolling out free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for all women.
HRT is a treatment used to relieve the symptoms of menopause. A survey in 2023 showed that more than half of women fear their long-term relationships are suffering due to their symptoms, while almost two-thirds said their sex lives have been damaged.
He said he has initial estimates on how much free HRT will cost, adding that the department has come back and said their revised estimate is significantly in excess of their original estimates.
“These things aren’t cheap,” he said, stating that phase one of the free IVF scheme costs €30 million.
“Free contraception is really expensive. It’s really successful, but the only reason we brought it in on a phased basis was for the money,” he said.
“I remember when we when we rolled it out, I was seeing these comments online, saying ‘people over the age of 25 or 30 or 35 have sex too’. Like, yeah, I know, we get that, but we have to be able to afford it,” said the minister.
Since it was reported by The Irish Times last week that hundreds of thousands of women will potentially be able to access free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) under new plans being advanced by the minister, the reaction has been very positive, according to Donnelly.
“I would very much like to see it rolled out for everybody at once. And that’s what we’re working through at the moment,” he said.
“I want it to be universal. I wanted to be free for the user… that’s what we want to achieve… I’ve seen a lot of good reaction from pharmacists and GPs, it’s gone down very well.
“I’ve been out knocking on doors in Wicklow and it’s coming up on the doors quite a lot, which is great. It’s kind of cut through. I hope it’s something of a tipping point. I’m having conversations with women who have seen the HRT proposal, are really encouraged by it, and now are looking at all of the other women’s health measures available to them,” he said.
However, the minister acknowledged that he expects there to be supply issues when free HRT is available.
Last year, a shortage in HRT patches caused significant issues for doctors, patients and pharmacists around the country.
In some cases pharmacists have had to manipulate patient doses, as certain strengths have become particularly scarce.
The minister said he’s been told by officials that there could be a significant constraint on supply that that will have to be managed.
“There’s a worldwide shortage. There was a big uptake in patches rather than other approaches. So I have no doubt that when we do this, supply is going to be something that we’ll have to work on,” he added.
He acknowledged that expanding the free IVF scheme, rolling out free HRT as well as further expanding free contraception are “very expensive measures”.
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Not enough doctors, not enough nurses, Third World Accident & emergency, some of the longest waiting lists for surgical procedures in Europe, but let’s fix something, that with the exception of the usual NGO’s, nobody has asked to be fixed. One supposes ( in his own mind ) it makes the ‘Minister’ appear pro active in some limited capacity.
@D W Chaney: Sadly, the doctors and nurses that come here for work to save lives are called immigrants and told to f off, so they are forced to leave when the country is no longer safe for them.
@D W Chaney: Ever been in a third world A&E?? Thought not. EU average of doctors per 1000 is 4. Ireland has 3.5. Lower, but close. EU average of nurses per 1000 is 8. Ireland has 12.5. Much higher. I can’t find stats for waiting times, but I assume they reflect your post just as accurately.
https://www.eolasmagazine.ie/ireland-lags-in-doctors-and-beds-but-leads-in-nurses-per-capita/#:~:text=Having%20had%202.7%20doctors%20per,2010%20and%205.4%20in%202020).
@D W Chaney: “nobody has asked to fix” I’d suggest the majority of those who’ll benefit from this might tell you to mind your own business. If you don’t want free contraception you can always say no ;)
@D W Chaney: obviously never been in a third world country. . 25 billion is the cost of public health care system , one of the highest per head anywhere in the world. I have been using HSE services since 2018 , A&E , Cancer Care , must say service is fantastic and has improved out of all recognition since 2018. But hey that doesn’t fit the narrative
@Peter Byrne: my brother in law requested an appointment to see an eye specialist. he got the letter last week confiming his appointment date. it’s in two years time. great service alright.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: well said, unfortunately actual facts are mainly missing from the comments.
@D W Chaney: Some things are hard to fix, but that doesn’t mean the easy fixes should wait.
@Shane Murphy: Sadly, our native doctors and nurses are driven out of the country due to poor pay and working conditions, and are instead replaced with third world workers who will happily take low wages as a result. Replacing our own talent with imported talent in the name of negligible economic savings is absolutely disgusting.
They love spending your money on their pet projects. Donnelly is particularly susceptible to this NGO inspired spending largesse.
@Louise Marie: “your money”?
In any case, the purpose of a state is the benefit of its people.
This is a Good Thing.
Making people’s live better is always a Good Thing.
Something most Americans cannot seem to grasp.
Free contraception? Not free for the taxpayers, who are funding it.
@Mick Joe:
If a kid gets 50c from their Granny and buys a freddo bar in a shop, they are a taxpayer…
Everyone pays tax.
@Mick Joe: works out a lot cheaper than the cost of getting kids to a working age, of course the cheapest option is to import workers from other countries who have cost us nothing?
@Mick Joe: and also availing of it, presumably. We pay 4 billion USC a year, that was allegedly temporary, and doesn’t appear to have made any difference to public amenities or services. Wheres the uproar about that? At least this measure is of some benefit to people.
Taxpayer funded contraception and abortion – we already are having fewer children – so a aging population with fewer taxpayers – has to be offset by reduction in children’s allowance and payments for single parents
@Laurence Mulvihill: So encourage unwanted pregnancies because we’re having fewer babies, largely because people can’t afford them because the government has us broke, unable to afford houses and rent thanks to a financial crash and housing crisis!….. Population is growing, there has never been more employees paying tax!
https://www.socialjustice.ie/article/labour-force-trends
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec:
Population is indeed growing,but it’s not the native Irish segment of it! The native Irish population is gradually declining, year on year. Are we a nation with its own unique history and identity, or are we just a faceless blob of tax paying work-bots,slaving away for our corporate overlords?
@Jonn: Birthrates decline in modern advanced societies. It’s seen all over the world. We will always be a nation with it’s own unique history, history doesn’t change! We’re an inclusive society and there are millions of Irish abroad as well!…… You want money to live you have to work for it, you don’t want to work in the corporate world start your own business, if it’s successful you’ll probably make more money than working for someone else….. We’re all free to make that choice, many just don’t have the motivation or drive…… So I don’t really know what sort of points you’re tying to make relating to this article and my original post pointing out that there has never been more taxpayers. Those “non-native” workers are helping to pay for the aging populations pensions too.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: but the very social economic reasons you mentioned that some people don’t want babies are the very reasons that some single parents are having babies as it gives them access to housing, healthcare and increased social welfare. This is not equitable and promotes single parents over family units. Also the current labour force were born over 20 years ago – abortion is legal only 6 years and free contraception only 2 so the effects won’t be seen for another 20 years.
@Laurence Mulvihill: Some are milking the system, but its a dangerous game, not sure you’ve been reading the papers recently but there’s a housing crisis at the minute and many are homeless. Not an environment for kids, and doesn’t make a parents life easier!….. And if you’re having kids to get a free house there’s something wrong with you!!!…… Are you serious?!?! Do you think making abortions legal is going to have a massive effect on the Birthrates?!?! There must be a lot of unwanted kids running around the country from the way you’re talking!
@Laurence Mulvihill: ah you’re one of them are you?
@another one? There was over 10,000 abortions in 2023 – how many of these would of been carried to term if abortion was illegal and so how many unplanned children were born when there was no legal access to abortion or contraception. Again figures won’t be known on the full effects for years but already the avg home size has reduced from 3 to 2 in five years – and as you say there is something “wrong” with someone having a child to get more access to benefits then why does the Irish govt give more help to a person that makes a “choice” to have a child on their own rather than a couple that would want a child but can’t afford it.
@Laurence Mulvihill: 10k is a lot…. All the more reason for free contraception and education! As for the effects on the population it’s impossible to quantify. Those that have an abortion may still desire children later in life but it doesn’t suit now….. Birthrates have been in decline since the 60s! It happens in developed countries….. How do the government go about setting down the criteria for any of your last statement?!?!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec:
And there it is,in a nutshell..the ageing boomers need to keep bringing in millions of new worker-bees to fund their comfy retirements..so much for the nonsense that open borders is all out compassion and kindness! Is that what’s called ‘saying the quiet part out loud’?
@Jonn: Surely you know that providing safety to asylum seekers is about compassion and doing the right thing, and then there is economic migration where people come here purely to work, build friendships and make a life for themselves? Is it really that difficult to understand?
@Jonn: Don’t know how comfy most people can live on the OAP…. Public sector pension is different…… There are far more drawing the OAP
One side of the Government wants to grow the population. The other side of the Government wants to reduce births. The Government then wonders what feeds the idea that they want to replace the indigenous population!
I would be happier if they concentrated on reducing crime. How about bringing in a new system for underage gurriers. The Guards are fed up with their work going to waste, repeat offenders in and out of court with hardly a slap on their wrist.
@Mark R: Reduce unwanted births.
As for the Guards, they don’t give a damn.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: that’s just not true. Personally through old school mates and having played football for practically my entire life, I know plenty of Garda. Everyone of them wants to do more. Any I have dealt with couldn’t do enough to help. They are under staffed under paid and over worked. Garda management is where you should direct, they direct how the feel on the beat carry out their duties
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Arresting the same criminals year after year, doing all the paperwork to bring them to court and seeing them clocking up multiple convictions with no punishments. It is enough to stop anyone from ‘giving a dam’.
@Mick O’K: 1) The Guards are overpaid. Massively overpaid.
2) Maybe if you have friends in the Guards they will want to do more. Because the Guards are tribal.
For the rest of us…
Not so much.
They do not want to even turn up anymore.
I have long since stopped reporting incidents. There simply is no point.
@Mark R: Ah, right!
So it is fine simply not to bother any more.
But still take their pay.
@Mark R: You ARE being replaced. It’s not an idea, it’s happening.
@sleepy Joe: Id be happy enough to see a few of the dregs on here replaced to be honest
Age of consent is 17, so that’s your first mistake, Stephen. When you sat down to think about all of the things that need to be fixed in the health system, why did this come out on top? Only one thing on your mind, eh?
@Ian McDonald: the age at which a person can provide their consent for a medical intervention is 16. This has nothing to do with the age of consent for sex.
@Ian McDonald: Girls get periods, often painful heavy ones, long before 17. Seriously, how are grown adults knocking around thinking hormonal birth control is only for preventing pregnancy? Embarrassing.
@Ian McDonald:
Easy headlines for him, from a fawning media! Notice how he’s never asked about the ongoing fiasco that is the children’s hospital? Any hack quizzing him about that could be risking a lucrative future career as a government ‘adviser’ or spin doctor!
@Jonn: what makes you think he is never asked about the hospital? Do you attend press conferences and other media briefings? If there’s no news, there’s no news. I will agree on one thing in your comment though – it is a fiasco
@Megan Ward: Thanks for that clarification Megan. I do know those things. On that argument, why lower it to 16, and not younger?
@Ian McDonald: You know these things, yet you corrected Donnelly on the age of consent despite him not saying it was anything other than 17.
I’m not in government or working on the roll out of the scheme, but going by the comments right there in the article about finding the means to fund it I’d imagine it’s primarily to do with budgetary issues and the fact that the age has increased several times but hasn’t gone back a year once. Simple maths, it costs less to extend it to 16 than to extend it right back to 9 or 10.
I would also guess that they are aware of the uproar that would come along if it were rolled back even younger from people like those in this comment section and the other recent article about the scheme who think that only sexually active women use hormonal contraception. Stevie Wonder could see the outrage coming. Why give even more ammo to the people who spend morning, noon, and night on the internet hiding behind a faceless profile and calling the government perverts and groomers, claiming that they want children to engage in sexual activity? Brutal government for the most part but you don’t need to be a good government to see that coming.
It’s not an argument to say that periods begin for many at a younger age by the way, just a fact. Not an opinion for you to agree or disagree with.
Its the same sound bites as Simon. All going to and want to, but never following through. The conversation never starts with we will be legislation next week.
@Jimmy Donovan: never following through? Free contraception has already been brought in, with its scope expanded each year.
Free for everyone 16 and up… Not free really as taxes will pay for that too. Anything more urgent to fix ?
Is the age of consent not 17?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Yeah, nobody under 17 ever got pregnant. You are soooo smart… What you are deliberately avoiding is the fact that most u17s that get pregnant are having sex with another U17
@FoxyBoiiYT: Sorry! I just asked a question! I’ll rephrase it. Is the age of consent 16 or 17?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The pill is not just for contraception purposes… It also helps with very painful and heavy periods, and all the other problems that go with that, which can be debilitating and can keep women bedridden and out of school/work on a monthly basis.
@Cat D: That is correct. Thank You. But it isn’t the question I asked! It’s not the information which I wanted! I just wanted to know what the age of consent is here. Thanks You! (PS: In the absence of a simple anf straight 2-digit answer here, I googled it. 17).
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Googling would have been so much quicker and wouldn’t have made you look like you were going for a ‘gotcha’.
Genuine question, why ask a question you can instantly find the answer to on Google?
I could Google, but I’ll only get other people’s perspectives, not yours.
@Megan Ward: Even online I rather interacting with people (faceless though they may be!) than a software driven algorithm! So I asked the question!!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: why is legal voting age 18 yet legal consent 17 and now they propose free contraception for 16 year olds – yet a 17 year old that commits a crime is dealt with in children’s court – if they are adult enough for consent or contraception then why not voting and Jail ?
@Laurence Mulvihill: We’re dealing with different things.
Law and Common Sense are two.
Law is crude. And often does not make sense.
The legal age of consent for sexual intercourse is 17. But that does not make sense, particularly as the law is applied. Boys are the ones held legally responsible for breaching that law, not girls. Despite that both have engaged in the act.
Despite the consensus that girls mature faster than boys.
Common Sense tells us that boys and girls will have sex before the age of 17. So it makes sense to provide contraception to those that need it.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Fair enough, I interact online enough with friends and family elsewhere so if I want an answer to a factual question rather than an opinion, I like to get it instantly :)
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: if a17 year is legally able to consent to sex as much as a adult and common sense is that they are engaging in sex – then why isn’t a 17 year old that engages in criminal behaviour also treated as a adult – surely common sense would be if they can legally make mature decisions on sex then they should be legally culpable for criminal actions and not treated as a child.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Yes it is, it’s even mentioned in the article!
However ignoring the non-contraceptive aspects and ignoring the well known fact that many start early there is still a reason for 16.
It takes time for these contraceptives to take effect so if a young lady wishes to celebrate her 17th birthday with her boyfriend then it would be best if she were able to start on contraceptives a couple of months earlier or so.
Out of all the comments, I see 2 women, and the rest men, WHINING about something that seems to have gotten their back up for some reason.
Suddenly ye are all VERY concerned about us women…….
And on the day Nell McCafferty died. Sheesh.
@Tricia G28: Not all the men are whining, just 95%
@Tricia G28: and the same old line if we give out contraception, sure, birth rates will keep falling….some lads watching too much handmaid’s tale…
@Tricia G28: Also interesting that a portion of those chaps immediately correlated the pill with sex and the age of consent, and not health concerns of the female anatomy…
Family planning for women in desperate poverty in the third world is never mentioned
@thomas molloy: that’s a fair point
My wife bought contraception pills while we were on an extended family visit in the Philippines.
She bought the exact same type from her Irish prescription.
The cost in the Philippines per month is 1 euro 10 cents.
The cost here in Ireland is 11 Euro.
@Peter McCormack: with this scheme the cost here will be €0
@Peter McCormack: If they were manufactured in the Philippines, or the region, then labour and other input costs could be a tiny fraction of what they are here.
@Peter McCormack: Minimum wage in the Philippines ranges between €9.73 and €10.29 per day, just in case it’s not immediately apparent why things just *might* be cheaper there
Gotta make more room for all the immigrants.
@sleepy Joe:
Well, if they replace old moaners like you that can’t be a bad thing.
How about free contraception for men !! Why is the onus always placed on women to avoid pregnancy ?? It’s about time that the male population were asked to face up to and take responsibility for their role in the reproductive cycle.
@Biddy Shea: Free condoms are available.
@Biddy Shea: Have you seen the lads here whining about women having access? Would you TRUST them to care?
Minister would announce free contraception for everyone over 10, it it got him votes & made him relevant. Deflection of course also from our failed A & E crisis, massive waiting lists & of course the Taj Mahal National Children’s Hospital. The Third World service he is head of, in the private world, he would be fired
When we have high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and a falling birth rate among native Irish, this seems to be something Irish tax payers should not be funding.
@Tommy Mullally: You’re not suggesting an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy should be the answer to low birth rates surely!
@Clare Power: Ah he is, people like Tommy get restless when they don’t have something to complain about. He needs unplanned pregnancies to keep happening so he can whinge about funding other people’s children.
@Clare Power: yup. Thats the extent of ‘ideas’ with a particular group who perpetuate individual freedom but only when it’s aligned with their version of ‘reality’
Mad business that theres a shortage in HRT drugs, seems to be a global supply problem, good news that it will be free tho, perhaps they protests in the UK underlining public feeling a little… saw a meme that outlined it for me… “Im perimenopausal, my pronouns are ‘try/me’… ;)
Require contraception as a condition of dole
What about the girls as young as 12 that have discovered their bodies and are experimenting with boys?
@Paul1st: The scheme was initially for a smaller age range, which was extended.
And extended further.
That is a sensible way to implement such things, rather than overwhelm the system. It also allows teething problems to be resolved while impacting a minimum number of people.
@Paul1st: Those children would benefit from improved sex education which, bizarrely, many on here fight tooth and nail to prevent happening
@Paul1st: I’m not at all sure hormone based contraceptives are safe or effective at that age.
Education is the only real option.
That being said I had no luck finding any of these girls when I was thirteen or so and keen on becoming an experimental subject.
What about free condoms for boys 16 on wards stops a lot of std s in teens
@Karen Marten: Not a bad idea.
We in Fianna Fail, are committed to looking after the health and well-being of mna na heireann
@Fintan Pox: Funny the first few times, wearing thin now. Nothing quite as sad as a parody who doesn’t know when to quit.
@Fintan Pox:
Yes
Minister Pox.
.
Surely you mean aged 16 and down?
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