Health (Provision of Contraception Prescribing Service in Retail Pharmacy Businesses) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I thank the Deputy for the amendments and the spirit in which they have been put forward. It is important to be able to have these discussions. I will deal with second one. The Deputy is quite right that ages of consent vary. Medical consent is 16, sexual activity is 17, consent under GDPR is 18, and that can lead to some complexity. It can lead to confusion on the part of young people seeking care and risk aversion on the part of the clinicians treating them. The HSE clinical experts recommend that healthcare professionals need a clear regulatory and legal framework to manage the complex needs of those aged under 17 who present independently away from parents or anything else. There is strong concern about the child protection elements of that.
Though that framework should include training and education as well as child protection and legal protections, it should also provide access to contraception and sexual health services where clinically appropriate in line with international guidance on the rights of the child. However, they do not recommend lowering the age of consent, which I acknowledge is not necessarily what the Deputy is suggesting. They are suggesting that the linking of the two things is problematic and that it does not necessarily increase child protection. They are worried about different behaviours being adopted at earlier and earlier ages and having negative impacts for children. There was a very important piece of research done into sexual activity between children aged 15 to 17. It shows about 25% of 15- to 17-year-olds have had sex but the majority of those were 17 and therefore eligible for the free contraception scheme. I appreciate the point the Deputy is making.
I will go with the clinical guidance on this because I do not want to rush something like that in legislation on this occasion with this amendment. I appreciate the importance of the point the Deputy is making but I also hear the case in relation to child protection more broadly and the protection of those more particularly vulnerable cases who may be presenting independent of parents. I am not in a position and I do not have research that enables me to take a position beyond the clinical expertise at this point in relation to it. I cannot put it any further than that at this time.
On amendment No. 1, I understand exactly why the Deputy is raising it. I am not sure it is necessary in legislation. We can do so much of that through parliamentary questions, the health committee and other things, and we want to do that. It is very important that both the Deputy and the National Women's Council identify the particular barriers that exist for women in certain groups, whether it is, as the Deputy said, to do with PPS numbers, or Traveller, Roma or migrant groups. There are groups that have particular barriers to accessing health. That is one of the reasons we created the women's health task force, which has a funding stream specifically and additionally for that.
When it came to funding the Health Research Board, HRB, this year, I asked it specifically to support women's research with a €2 million dedicated fund. This was in four areas: menstrual health, endometriosis, the mental health issues postpartum in traumatic birth cases, but in particular the issues around access to health generally for those much more marginalised groups. I say this as a measure of attempted reassurance about our concern for and awareness of those groups in trying to index as many different ways as possible to try to support those groups because I recognise the barriers they face in so many different ways whether it is language, culture, PPS numbers or customs and habits. There are so many different things and we want to provide healthcare for all. I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss it but I am not sure it is necessary for legislation. However, in any other context I will give the Deputy whatever information I can in relation to how we are doing with it.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-15