Legislation for free HRT to come into effect from January - Ardagh

Senator Catherine Ardagh has welcomed the news that her party colleague Minister Stephen Donnelly has received government approval for legislation that would ensure women no longer have to pay for their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medication.

Senator Ardagh said the legislation will come into effect in less than three months’ time, in January.

She said: “My party colleague Stephen Donnelly has announced he is seeking government approval for legislation for the Government to cover the cost of HRT medication for women.

“Women's health is a strong priority of mine so this is really positive news, particularly that it is set to come into effect in January. The initiative will see the cost of HRT medication, including patches, funded for all women who need it."

Senator Ardagh said the free HRT legislation follows on from other initiatives by Fianna Fail in government that are revolutionising the provision of women's healthcare. She said: "Free HRT follows on from Minister Donnelly launching the country’s first scheme enabling access to publicly-funded assisted human reproduction, including IVF.

"He also launched a free contraception scheme and has expanded it to more and more age groups, opened the country’s first specialist publicly funded menopause clinic and allocated funding to open a further five clinics and has funded a large network of same day see-and-treat gynaecology clinics as well as specialist endometriosis centres and fertility hubs.

“This demonstrates Fianna Fáil’s commitment in government to women’s health, allocating huge funding and listening to women and responding with action.”

-ENDS-