THE FREE CONTRACEPTION scheme has been expanded to include women aged 27-30.

The scheme was launched in September 2022 for women aged 17-25, and a few months later was expanded to include 26-year-olds. 

Following the referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment, a government working group was set up in 2019 to consider policies and legislation around improving access to contraception.

It recommended that free contraception be rolled out and found that local access, cost, embarrassment, inconvenience and lack of knowledge were among the barriers to accessing contraception.

Former Health Minister Simon Harris had planned to deliver it in 2019, but this rollout never came to fruition.

Expansion

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has announced that the scheme is now available to all women aged 17-30. 

This is something that was included in the Women’s Health Action Plan which was launched last year. 

The scheme is open to women, girls and other people identifying as transgender or non-binary who are ordinarily resident in Ireland and for whom prescription contraception is deemed suitable by their doctors.

Almost 2,400 GPs and 1,950 pharmacies have signed up to provide services and products under the scheme to date and close to €31.5 million was allocated to support the scheme this year.

The scheme provides for the cost of prescription contraception, including the cost of consultations with medical professionals and fitting and/or removal of various types of contraceptives.

The range of contraceptive options currently available include contraceptive injections, implants, IUS and IUDs (coils), the contraceptive patch and ring and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception.

The scheme also includes emergency contraception.

‘A different country’ 

Announcing the expansion of the scheme, Minister Donnelly said: “Ireland today is a very different country to the one of 1971 when groups of courageous women smuggled contraceptives on the ‘condom train’ from Belfast.

“Ireland has come a long way in terms of the supports it offers for sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equity and family planning.

“Increasing access to free contraception through the free contraception scheme and the National Condom Distribution Service (NCDS) is therefore a key priority for this Government, supporting positive sexual health and choice in family planning.”

Donnelly noted that “today’s adults of reproductive age are just one generation removed from those who were, until 1985, restricted from purchasing condoms over-the-counter”.

“We cannot under-estimate the importance of this measure, which gives women the freedom to control their reproductive health while removing financial barriers,” said Donnelly. 

He added: “The most suitable contraception isn’t always the cheapest, so this scheme empowers women to choose the method most suited to their needs and lifestyle, with the assistance of free consultations with their GP or other medical professional.”

He also noted that the scheme isn’t solely a “family planning tool” and that prescription contraception can be used for “for treating painful periods, heavy bleeding and issues with mood that can accompany the latter half of the menstrual cycle for many2.

A Healthy Ireland survey recently found that 51% of women experience disruption of their daily activities due to symptoms related to their periods. 

“The costs associated with managing these symptoms are now removed for women in the eligible age group,” said Donnelly. 

The Health Minister said today’s announcement is part of a “growing suite of sexual health services which respond to population needs, reducing crisis pregnancy and termination of pregnancy rates, and supporting STI prevention”. 

While he noted that the contraception offered through the scheme doesn’t protect against sexually transmitted infections, he noted that the NCDS provides this “very valuable support for the sexual and reproductive health of men and their partners”.

The NCDS supplies free condoms to the national network of STI clinics, to NGOs and services working with high-risk groups, and on participating 3rd level campuses.

Later this month, the first publicly-funded IVF treatment will also commence, which will fund one cycle of IVF for people who meet certain eligibility criteria.

Donnelly said “all of these services form part of a jigsaw of a comprehensive, integrated system that provides quality healthcare for women throughout all life stages”.

“We may not yet have all the pieces in place,” said Donnelly, “but I’m committed to building on our work to date to ensure the evolution of a fully equitable service for all.

“Today’s expansion further demonstrates our commitments to expand access to contraception and to fulfil the ancillary recommendations made by the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.”