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LABOUR TD CONOR Sheehan has called on the government to provide better access for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through the HSE, stating that long wait times are “deeply distressing” for members of the LGBTQI+ community.
The government introduced the national HIV PrEP scheme in 2019, and the drug is available for free for individuals who are eligible and who would benefit from taking it.
PrEP is a HIV medicine taken by people who do not have HIV. Taken correctly, it reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% and from injection drug use by at least 74%.
As of September 2025, there are 809 people on waiting lists for PrEP appointments.
In a parliamentary question submitted to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Sheehan requested a list of the waiting times through the HSE sexual health programme, by clinic, for 2024 and to date in 2025.
There are 13 public HSE clinics where patients can receive PrEP in Ireland.
Two clinics in the Midwest area had a wait time of two weeks in 2024, but are closed to new appointments by self-referral in 2025.
There are two HSE public PrEP clinics in the Dublin and North East area. In 2024, one of those clinics had an approximate six-month waiting period for self-referrals to access PrEP, while in 2025 that waiting time has increased to nine months.
The second clinic in the Dublin and North East area recorded no data for 2024 but wait times are approximately four months for self-referrals in 2025.
In the Dublin and Midlands area, wait times doubled in two out of three of the public HSE clinics in 2025, from six months to one year and from three months to six months respectively.
There are some clinics where wait times have improved, however.
The third HSE clinic in the Dublin and the Midlands area had a wait time of six months in 2024, while in 2025, new appointments are being released weekly via an online booking system.
In one Dublin and South East clinic, appointments were closed to new self-referrals last year but appointments are now being released weekly via an online booking system.
The second clinic in this area has halved its wait time from approximately six months to three months for new appointments.
Wait times in the HSE South West area have halved from six months to two months.
Three public clinics in the North West and West area have an approximate wait time of two months, two weeks and four to six weeks respectively.
Responding to the parliamentary question, a spokesperson for the HSE said: “While many services have waiting lists for self-referrals, they continue to accept urgent referrals who are offered an appointment to be seen within one month and [those] are not included on a waiting list.
“Waiting lists need to be interpreted with caution. Services report that when they contact individuals on their waiting list to offer them an appointment, a proportion are already engaged with a different PrEP service.
“In addition, some individuals who attend a service for the first time are seeking to transfer their care to a more convenient location rather than actually access PrEP for the first time.”
The Journal previously spoke to individuals who opted to attend private clinics to receive prescriptions for PrEP due to HSE waiting times.
“It is deeply distressing to see that waiting times for PrEP appointments have increased across most parts of the country,” Sheehan told The Journal. ”In fact, it feels like we are going backwards.
“For people in my own county Limerick and the Midwest, the situation is even more shocking — waiting lists are now completely closed to new applications. This is simply unacceptable.”
Sheehan has urged the Minister for Health to expand and resource PrEP services across the country to ensure timely access to the drug, stating that “PrEP is a vital tool in preventing HIV transmission yet access to it remains inconsistent and, for too many, out of reach”.
“Ireland consistently ranks last in the EU for the provision of and access to LGBTQI+ healthcare, and it is clear that our broader sexual health services are also failing to meet need,” he said.
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