Health (Provision of Contraception Prescribing Service in Retail Pharmacy Businesses) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15 ============================================================ Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire If I had all of the money in the world, of course I would simply do these different things but I have to make choices between different things that the Oireachtas wants to spend money on. There are so many requests to spend money. There are never requests to find other things to do with them. Yes, if I had the money, of course, but that would also mean having to make choices around assisted human reproduction or putting more money into menopause clinics. There are so many different things for which we need more money and more positions. I do recognise the calls from the National Women's Council in relation to that. It really is a question of how much money we have for everything. I am struck by Deputy Sherlock's comments in relation to protection. I am trying to distinguish child protection from all other issues. I hope there would be no girl at this point in the Irish healthcare system who would experience any judgment for presenting to any healthcare professional. That is not the message we are trying to send in any sense whatsoever. I also recognise there are some girls who are in extremely vulnerable situations but those are exactly the girls who also need a child protection response to what is happening to them. Seventeen is the age of consent as legislated by the Oireachtas. It is the age of sexual consent. We have spent a long time with that and there is no proposal to revise that as such. It is not the case that a 15- or 16-year-old girl will be able to go into the pharmacy in the first instance. This Bill provides that the follow-up care and appointments would be in the pharmacy for the additional four and a half years but that she would still have to go to a GP in the first instance. If a 15-year-old presented to a GP for contraception that raises questions. Is it to manage a different condition, for example, for which there is evidence or concern? We have discussed endometriosis, for example. I do not know. I am not a clinician. I do not want to misrepresent that, but I can see scenarios as the Deputy describes in which that may be relevant. However, if there are broader child protection concerns that doctor also needs to be able to see and spend time with that girl. I am not happy to go against the clinical advice I have on this. The clinical advice I have is that earlier sexual debut is associated with adverse outcomes. It is not just about unplanned pregnancy; it is about other concerns and other protections. That is why we have chosen 17 and not 16. I was here for that debate some time ago. It is logical and aligned to have sexual activity consent age aligned with the age for accessing free contraception. Those things are logical. The Deputy might conversely say that it is logical around medical consent as well and I appreciate that point also. However, on the basis that I have the clinical advice, I do not have a reason to go against that at this point. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-15