Marie Sherlock
Dublin Central · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is why I want to see our local authorities moving from being just bystanders that license waste collection companies to actually controlling how the service is delivered.”
“That is why I want to pay tribute to all the people who are here today, including Stoneybatter Pride of Place, Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns and all the people working within their communities to keep them clean.”
“Panda’s parent company, Beauparc, sold for €1.3 billion in 2021 to an Australian investment firm. It is also co-owned by a US private equity firm. They are not in Ireland for the good of their health. They are here because they know they can make serious money. We know Greyhound’s parent company is registered on the Isle of Man.”
“The other important thing to say is that we did not hear any new ideas today, and I say that with the greatest respect to the Minister of State. We did not hear any ideas with regard to the profound challenges we have regarding our plateauing recycling rates and all the other issues that are there. That is disappointing.”
“I pay tribute to a lot of the work that many officials and workers in Dublin City Council do because, in some ways, their hands are tied behind their back. They recognise the issue with regard to landlord responsibility. I am very disappointed to hear the Minister of State's comments about landlord responsibility.”
“Dublin City Council was able to negotiate for the installation of ten-tonne compactors in the commercial areas, yet when it came to the residential areas, I understand the council tried to negotiate with the bin collectors on the roll-out of shared collection systems, but to no avail. That pretty much sums up our dysfunctional system.”
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“As the final speaker before the Ceann Comhairle, I wish to thank her for her excellent work over the past year. I think everybody across this Chamber would acknowledge she runs a very tight operation and it is hugely appreciated. We all have lots of issues we want to bring forward and it is genuinely appreciated. I thank her for her work and everything she does here. I also thank all of the staff. There are many staff we never see in Leinster House, particularly those of elected representatives, in the Bills Office and in all the other areas. I say thank you to our cleaners, the catering staff, those in broadcasting and to all of our staff. This place would not run without the benefit of people's work over very long hours, as I know when I have to leave my office sometimes after midnight or 1 a.m.”
“The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission undertook a very detailed analysis in 2018. I would be very careful not to disparage the work that went into its report. I ask that the Government be very careful in its commentary with regard to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. I disagree with it on many other things but we have to respect what it wrote, in particular with regard to waste management. We eagerly await this report. It was supposed to be published in the spring. We have not heard a date from the Minister of State today and we would like to hear that date. This fight is not going away. It is about our communities, cost and control. We will stand unified in having another go at this to try to change how Dublin, in particular, deals with its waste.”
“The other important thing to say is that we did not hear any new ideas today, and I say that with the greatest respect to the Minister of State. We did not hear any ideas with regard to the profound challenges we have regarding our plateauing recycling rates and all the other issues that are there. That is disappointing. This is a forum to bring forward the Government's ideas. If it is not going to accept our ideas, it should bring forward its own ideas but we did not hear any of those. The leader of the Minister of State’s party, the Tánaiste, wrote very enthusiastically about the recommendations of the Dublin task force just before the general election in 2024, and a very clear recommendation was to move to a single operator. That seems to have fallen off the wagon in the months since then but it was a very clear recommendation.”
“They will all add up but we have to show a willingness to take action. That is the regrettable thing today. We eagerly await this independent review and yet we see that so many of the arguments put forward effectively eviscerate what we are proposing today, so the Government is already pre-empting the outcome of the independent review by effectively rejecting the proposal we are bringing forward, and I regret that. My background has always been to support the evidence, but we see so many other European cities do things very differently and I think most of us would accept that when one walks the streets of so many other European cities, they are vastly cleaner than Dublin. We want to make our city better.”
“I pay tribute to a lot of the work that many officials and workers in Dublin City Council do because, in some ways, their hands are tied behind their back. They recognise the issue with regard to landlord responsibility. I am very disappointed to hear the Minister of State's comments about landlord responsibility. Nobody is talking about landlords hovering over their tenants to see whether they put out their bin on a Tuesday morning. This is about making sure there is a waste contract attached to the tenancy. It is then up to the tenants to try to make good that, but in many instances there is no contract and tenants are in the dark as to what they should do, so we need to try to ensure we do everything possible. There is no silver bullet with regard to illegal dumping, litter on our streets and all the issues relating to waste.”
“Deputy McAuliffe made a really powerful point that we do not necessarily need to legislate for the whole country but we have to be able to empower and enable local authorities to find the right system for their areas because, as somebody who grew up in a very rural area, I know the challenges with regard to fly tipping there are completely different from the issues in my home in the north inner city. The reality is that Dublin finds itself at a juncture. The reason so many people have come to express anger and frustration over the past few months is because a private bin company is effectively foisting a change upon them relating to what is a public service in terms of a bin collection service and the local authority has been rendered almost powerless because it exerts little or no control over those companies.”
“In the spirit of solidarity, as a proud Corkonian who is very proud to now call Dublin home, I extend my support to Mayo as well. They might just do it this time round. I thank all those who came to support the Bill today, including Deputies Ivana Bacik, Mark Ward, Gary Gannon, Paul McAuliffe and Roderic O'Gorman. It is very clear that while we may all have a slight difference in emphasis about what we want to see, there is very much a clarion call that we do need to see some change, particularly in Dublin, and an acknowledgement by the Government that we have to empower the local authorities in Dublin to be able to bring about that change.”
“Ultimately, this is very much about local issues, but we need national policy solutions. That is why we have brought forward our Bill. We are very disappointed to hear that the Government is opposing it. I want to pay tribute to colleagues like Deputy McAuliffe and others who sat on an Oireachtas working group on waste management in the previous Dáil and Seanad. We believe we need to change how we do things. We might disagree on the precise detail, but all of us who sat around the table recognised that we need to have change.”
“That is why I want to pay tribute to all the people who are here today, including Stoneybatter Pride of Place, Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns and all the people working within their communities to keep them clean. The other key point in all of this is that, for many years, trade unions have spoken about the need to overhaul the system because of the wages, conditions and exploitation that have existed. I pay tribute to the More Power to You campaign. Fórsa, SIPTU and Connect are the three main unions behind it. At the end of the day, waste collection is a public service and the jobs should be decently paid. We spent a lot of time during the pandemic applauding those who had to go out to work, like those collecting our bins, when the rest of us got to stay at home, yet we know the terms and conditions in many of the companies are very poor.”
“That is why I want to see our local authorities moving from being just bystanders that license waste collection companies to actually controlling how the service is delivered. I introduced this Bill because I do not believe the issue of litter and dumping on our streets, particularly in the communities I represent, where the issue of litter has existed for many years, is hopeless. I do believe change can be made. Inspiration can be taken from many European cities that have got their systems right. They have underground collection systems, compactors in their communities and innovative solutions. The way our system is set up ultimately does not allow for that investment, and I believe we need to change that. We also need to recognise the incredible work so many of our communities are doing against the odds to try to keep their areas clean.”
“It is important to say that, back in the 2000s, Dublin City Council, along with the three other Dublin local authorities, tried to tender for a single operator but failed. It failed because Panda, in the name of Nurendale Limited, brought it to the High Court and, effectively, it lost that case. It lost it because of EU competition law, but we believe the game-changer now is the 2014 EU concessions directive, which allows for tendering by a state, or an agency of the state, for services of general economic interest or general public interest, of which we believe waste is one. As we all know, waste management is not just about a private arrangement because, when it is done badly, it affects us all.”
“That number is going to contract in the future. Therefore, we will have extraordinary over-reliance on very large companies, with the State exerting little or no control over them. That is why we need to change our system. In transforming how we deal with waste in this country, I want to see the State take control of this vital public service. Ultimately, I see this legislation as a stepping stone towards local authorities providing this public service. For a variety of legal and practical reasons, however, we believe our Bill has to start in this place. Our Bill effectively provides for competition for the market as opposed to competition in the market. That distinction is important because, by tendering for a single operator, local authorities will be able to start controlling how precisely waste is collected.”
“It was just looking at the prices. We need to make sure that householders are paying a fair price. The third key reason we need to move away from a privatised system of waste collection is that the promise of choice is failing. In my constituency, we see bin lorries traipsing around after one another, with all the congestion, confusion and diesel emissions that go with that. In Dublin 15 and other parts of Dublin, a single operator is effectively operating as a monopoly. There is no competition there. The company is hiking up prices and getting away with it. I am very worried about the consolidation within the waste management sector. Back in 2012, analysis by my colleague in SIPTU, Michael Taft, showed that we had 81 bin companies across the country. Within a decade, by 2022, we were down to about 30 to 40.”
“Panda’s parent company, Beauparc, sold for €1.3 billion in 2021 to an Australian investment firm. It is also co-owned by a US private equity firm. They are not in Ireland for the good of their health. They are here because they know they can make serious money. We know Greyhound’s parent company is registered on the Isle of Man. Again, that speaks volumes about the types of company we are dealing with here. Yesterday on the radio, the Irish Waste Management Association said it believed a conversation needed to be had about the price of what we were proposing here. I say to it: bring it on. Back in 2018, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission very clearly called for an economic regulator. In 2020, we saw a price monitoring group, which involved a very pale shade of economic regulation and certainly not price regulation.”
“The second key reason we believe we need to move away from the privatised system is that, ultimately, many of the private bin companies are effectively creaming profits from bin collection, with local authorities having to spend millions of euro. Dublin City Council has to spend millions of euro collecting 3,500 tonnes of illegally dumped waste on our streets every year. The reality is that we have serious underinvestment in recycling. The Government has effectively admitted that recycling rates have plateaued at about 41%, when we have serious targets to try to meet by 2030. We know from looking at the accounts of some companies that they are making serious profits. We have no transparency as to what two of the biggest operators are earning because they are unlimited companies.”
“We know that residents have faced extraordinary price increases in collection services in recent years. Panda’s bin collection prices have risen by 43% since 2024. The City Bin Company increased its charges by 26% in the past two years. Greyhound’s last increase was 48%, back in 2024, and we expect to see another announcement from it soon. In May of this year, EU waste disposal rules came into force banning the export of waste beyond EU borders. That will force a further hike for households. The reality is that five years ago we were exporting about 70 million tonnes from our shores every year, and that has now doubled in five years.”
“There is appalling exploitation of people right across my constituency who are in desperate need of appropriate accommodation and who are crammed into three- and four-bedroom houses where there could be 16 people. It is an inhumane squeezing of people into tenement-like conditions, and it is landlords who are facilitating it. To be fair, the least of the worries of many of those tenants is where they put their black bags, but we need to make sure that landlords are forced to have a waste management contract for every house or apartment they let. We felt moved to introduce this Bill because we believe the privatised system of waste collection is not working. The theory of competition was supposed to deliver choice and affordable pricing but the evidence is very much to the contrary.”
“It must specify where exactly the contract applies because, again, we know that even in some pockets of Dublin, there is no waste collection service. We know that in some rural areas there is no service, but it also happens in urban areas. We also want to see a waiver scheme on grounds of personal hardship introduced and, crucially, coverage for all areas. The third key part of our Bill is with regard to landlord responsibility. This is something that Dublin City Council and other local authorities are very much seeking from the Government. As a TD for Dublin Central, I am acutely aware of how very real comfort and deprivation live cheek by jowl.”
“I believe he is wrong on that, and, for whatever reason, the Department is misinterpreting the legislation. The reason I say that is that the Waste Management Act 1996 does confer powers on each local authority chief executive, but it was very clear in the High Court case Nurendale Ltd. v . Dublin City Council in 2009 that no chief executive could safely use those powers to restructure the waste collection market in his or her area. A chief executive cannot move to a franchise tendering system conferring exclusive rights without proper legislative underpinning. That is why we are here today. Second, our Bill sets down conditions for the awarding of a waste management contract. It must specify the number of years.”
“Our Bill sets out to make three fundamental changes to the Waste Management Act 1996. First, we provide for local authorities to be able to appoint a single operator for their local authority area. This would be a radical move away from what is called competition in the market to competition for the market. The reality is that section 2 and section 3 of the 1996 Act exclude local authorities from making waste collection arrangements in their area. Ironically, every time I submit a written parliamentary question to the Minister, and when I ask about waste management and local authorities, the Minister tells me that the statutory responsibility for decisions on waste collection arrangements, including any move towards franchise tendering, ultimately rests with the chief executive of each local authority.”
“Providers get to charge what they want, with some companies making very handsome profits. They are the companies whose profits we are actually aware of, but many other companies are unlimited, so we do not know what they earn. The result is that we have serious underinvestment in public recycling and composting facilities. Back in 2018, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said in very clear terms that the current waste management system in Ireland is inefficient, and that Ireland needs an economic regulator for waste companies. Eight years on, households remain at the mercy of unregulated price increases, and there is zero transparency over companies providing a crucial public utility. No other European city does it like this, and nor should we.”
“Dublin City Council was able to negotiate for the installation of ten-tonne compactors in the commercial areas, yet when it came to the residential areas, I understand the council tried to negotiate with the bin collectors on the roll-out of shared collection systems, but to no avail. That pretty much sums up our dysfunctional system. Local authorities rely on private bin companies for waste collection, which is effectively a public service across our communities, yet our local authorities exert little or no power over them. Our lopsided system means that multiple private bin companies get to drive the same roads in some areas and provide no service elsewhere. They have the luxury of driving past illegally dumped waste and litter on our streets, while local authorities have to spend millions every year cleaning up the mess.”
“In recent weeks, I have seen a huge call for reform and an appetite for reform. That is why we have so many people sitting in on this final session of the Dáil today before we rise for the summer. They passionately believe that we need to have a better system in place. The announcement in April is phase 3 of Dublin City Council’s plan to ban bags across 900 streets in the city that are currently exempt from bins. While the first two phases were in commercial areas, this current phase is the first attempt to introduce it in a residential area. There is an irony in terms of how it is being rolled out.”
“They were going to see a reduced incentive to reduce their waste because many would have to sign up to an annual standing charge as opposed to the pay-per-bag or pay-per-drop system they currently have. They were facing the prospect of the proliferation of unsightly bins sitting on the streets seven days a week. The reality is that many of the people in the constituency that I represent do not have a front garden or back garden. Their houses open onto narrow streets, yet very little account has been taken of that in the decision to move to wheelie bins or caddies. With this outpouring of anger and frustration at the manner in which the changes are being handled by Dublin City Council, our communities have begun to see just how dysfunctional our waste system is.”
“I warmly welcome all those who join us in the Visitors Gallery today, the residents from across Stoneybatter, Smithfield, Broadstone and Phibsborough, along with Rory Hawkins from SIPTU, who has joined us for this debate today. I think it is fair to say that, three months ago, when Dublin City Council made its decision to finally start banning bin bags across communities in the constituency that I represent, it very much hit a nerve with residents. The council effectively made a policy decision but left it to the private bin companies to decide how to implement those changes. There was consternation at that result, and rightly so. For most households, the impact was going to be a doubling, trebling or even more of an increase in their existing waste costs.”
“I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.” We in the Labour Party passionately believe that we need to have a serious overhaul of how waste is collected and regulated across every county in this country. In that context, I am very proud to see our Labour Party Bill proceed to Second Stage in the Dáil today. The Bill is the Waste Management (Single Household Waste Collection Service) Bill 2026. This is an issue that I have been working on for a number of years, both in my time working for SIPTU and while working as a councillor elected to Dublin City Council. Two years ago, Deputy Mark Wall and I, when we were in the Seanad, brought forward a motion there. Today, we see that work coming to the Dáil.”
“Will it introduce a temporary ban to give time to make sure we can get our act together and take seriously what is a public health crisis in this country?”
“We know that enforcement is the issue, but I am fed up because I do not think there is a sense of urgency. I hear what the Tánaiste is saying today, and I welcome that meeting next week. However, I stood here for a Topical Issue last week when the Minister for justice effectively said that there were powers and they just needed to be enforced. That is not good enough. The reality from a public health perspective - I do not say this lightly - is that we need to impose a temporary ban on e-scooter use over the next six weeks to give the Minister for justice, the Minister for Transport and An Garda Síochána the time to get their act together so we have the special pursuit, so we have the registration, so we have the ban and so we have the right policy in place. Will the Government rule out a permanent ban on e-scooters?”
“I too must raise the report from Children's Health Ireland, CHI, today. There are one to two e-scooter-related incidents presenting to emergency departments every single day, with a 50% increase in traumatic brain injuries over the past 12 months. As we rise today, I have to ask how in all conscience we can walk away from here, knowing that every day for the next eight weeks, a child is going to be injured due to an e-scooter. I listened to the Garda Commissioner yesterday calling for a full ban, and the Taoiseach said something similar during the week. I believe that is a cop-out. The reality is that e-scooters are a legitimate form of transport for many people out there, but they are also used as a form of intimidation, particularly in the communities that I represent in Dublin Central.”
“The vast majority of those under the age of 18 will be going with the consent or knowledge of their parents, but there are definitely females out there, particularly in marginalised communities, who need to access contraception and who do not have the means to be making a doctor's appointment. We believe being able to access it through the caring environment of a pharmacy would be really appropriate. I ask the Minister to reconsider amendment No. 2. As I say, it does not change anything. It merely empowers the Minister to make a decision armed with greater research and evidence at a future date to legislate to lower the age. It is to standardise with the age of consent of 16 and it is important that the Minister should have that power because she is currently precluded from it as we read the 1970 Act.”
“I hear what the Minister is saying about child protection but at the end of the day we need to look at the health separate to child protection. It is part of child protection but it also has to be considered separately because it is an immediate need for a young woman who legally remains a child but who may be involved in sexual behaviour at the age of 16. Of course, we know there are other girls who access contraception not because of needing it for the original use but for other health conditions. We need to be very mindful that we want to create a health service that can afford access to those who are in difficult situations.”
“I thank the Minister. I feel very strongly that in bringing forward amendment No. 2, and I have listened carefully to the Minister's response, that judgment should not be passed on why a 16-year-old girl might present to a pharmacy seeking contraception. It would be very worrying if the message were to go out that we are trying to control or dissuade behaviours. The history of our State has been trying to control and dissuade behaviours when we know that behaviours are happening. The intent behind this amendment in particular is for vulnerable girls out there who are in a situation where they do not have a supportive family environment but perhaps are being exploited in some other context and need access.”
“It would cost €5 million per year to increase the age threshold with regard to contraception services. We believe the Minister can do that by ministerial regulation. However, section 67E of the Health Act 1970 precludes the Minister from legislating for access to contraception services for those under the age of 17. The age of medical consent is 16 and we believe that the contraception scheme should be standardised to 16. Effectively we want to empower the Minister to be able to reduce the age to 16 for the contraception scheme.”
“The big issue we are trying to highlight here is that while it is fantastic that the legislation will provide for access to contraception via our pharmacies, we need to make sure that we look at who else should be able to access it. Effectively amendment No. 2 does not change anything but it gives the Minister the power to legislate to lower the age of access to the contraception scheme. It does two things. The scheme currently covers those aged 17 to 36. We in the Labour Party have spoken about the need to increase that upper age. We know that the Minister can do that by ministerial regulation. We know that women are fertile far beyond their 36th year. If they are able to access services such as termination services regardless of age, we do not see why there should be an age applied. It would cost relatively little.”
“My call is to maintain data on the number of women who are availing of the services, understanding the profile of who is actually accessing the services and also understanding the barriers as set out in that survey and indeed those that we have picked up anecdotally. Many of us who have an interest in women's health have come to understand that in terms of dealing with any marginalised group. I appeal to the Minister to make sure that we have proper data collection to ensure that we get the most out of this legislation. Pointing to something else, we know there is a big gap in the uptake of the medical card and we have to understand why.”
“Amendment No. 1 seeks to ensure a report is prepared not later than 12 months after the coming into operation of the subsection and every year thereafter. It is effectively a report on the performance, of the provisions that we are currently legislating for. Last week, I warmly welcomed this Bill and talked about the huge benefit it will have for women. I also wanted to highlight that there were significant issues with access to our health services for certain women. A National Women's Council survey found that there are barriers particularly for women who do not have a PPS number, disabled women, Traveller women and LGBTQ+ women. There are cultural prejudices that they do not need contraception and of course geographical barriers.”
“I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “(a) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1): “(1A) The Minister shall, not later than 12 months after the coming into operation of this subsection, and every year thereafter, prepare and lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report on progress towards making contraception services available without charge to all women which shall include— (a) the number of women who availed of contraception services in the preceding year, by reference to age, (b) an assessment of the case for prescribing a further age or class or classes of ages under subsection (5), (c) an assessment of the case for making available under this section the contraception services referred to in subsections (1) and (4) by reference to an age that is under the age of 17 years, (d) an assessment of the barriers to accessing contraception services experienced by women who are unable to readily demonstrate that they are ordinarily resident in the State or to furnish a personal public service number, including women who are undocumented, women who are applicants for international protection, women experiencing homelessness and women who have experienced domestic, sexual or gender-based violence, and the measures taken or proposed to be taken to remove those barriers, and (e) the implementation of such commitments relating to contraception as are contained in any strategy or action plan relating to sexual health published by the Minister and for the time being in force.”,”.”
“Our key message to the Minister is that there needs to be a proper State policy with regard to ICT use in our schools, there needs to be proper supports to families to access the devices, and we need to end the digital divide and the very blatant inequality emerging to a much greater extent because of access to ICT devices in our schools.”
“The reality, as we know, is that 30% of schools have mandated their pupils to get devices. Some 17% of those schools are DEIS schools. We know that some tech companies, a huge number of which have their EMEA headquarters here in Ireland, are supporting schools, including some schools in my constituency, but that is not good enough. We need the State to step in. It is frankly appalling that the ICT grant was cut last year and has remained the same this year and that there is no provision for maintenance and repair.”
“Almost half of all one-parent families are still experiencing deprivation and there is a rise in the at-risk of poverty rate for two-parent families, with one in eight of those families experiencing deprivation. The back-to-education costs are a very big part of the story of child poverty and deprivation in this country and the ILCU survey very powerfully spoke to that this week. Talking about back to school feels like Groundhog Day with regard to school uniforms. As my colleague Deputy Smith said, there is a Department circular that the Department has failed to enforce across schools. It is extraordinary to listen to the Minister of State talk about guidance from the Department to schools saying that no family or pupil should be forced to purchase a device.”
“I want to thank my colleague, Deputy Kenny, for bringing forward this really important motion and welcome the support across the Opposition. He does appear to be getting to some Deputies in Sinn Féin. No one wants to be talking about going back to school but the back-to-education allowance has landed this week and many parents are having to deal with an existing cost-of-living crisis. It beggars belief that after years of budgetary surpluses the at-risk of poverty rate and the deprivation rate continue to go in the wrong direction. It is shameful that with all the money being dished out, we are seeing a rise in the at-risk of deprivation rate among one-parent families.”
“On the point that An Garda Síochána has full powers, I know from talking to gardaí on the ground locally in Dublin North Central that they are very active in seizing scramblers and I urge them to seize e-scooters as well. The fundamental issue is that challenging a person under 18 has become a bit of a no-go area for many in An Garda Síochána because of the consequences if that child is injured. That is why we need a wholly radical response. This is not just about the injuries although they are to the fore of our minds. It is also about intimidation within communities. People are afraid to walk even on the footpaths because of the speed and impunity with which people travel on e-scooters. We need to change that.”
“I find the reply we have been given deeply upsetting. This is not directed towards the Minister of State, but to the authors, the Department officials and the senior Ministers. It reflects no recognition of the crisis out there. The reality is that we can have all the powers we want in the world but if there is no enforcement, there is no point in having those powers. This is what is happening in our communities now. We need to see the Government, as a whole, taking this seriously. The Minister of State said that the Department of Health would be more suitable to get a response from. Come on; we have to do better than that. The reality is that I am not in favour of an outright ban because there are people using these scooters legitimately but we need to go after the many who are not and the retailers.”
“This falls to the Minister for justice, but also to the Minister for Transport. We need a registration system and drone detection technology, which has been rolled out in other cities. We must make sure we have a specialised Garda unit that will effectively target children and those underage. We also need to make sure that we tackle the retailers illegally selling scooters capable of operating above the speed limit.”
“I join Deputy Geoghegan in raising these concerns. The question has to be asked at this stage as to what it will take for the Government to respond to what is a very real crisis among the communities I represent and many other communities across this country. This is literally a life-or-death issue, or, many times, a fate almost as bad as death in terms of the horrendous acquired brain injuries that impact every facet of a young person’s life. It is simply devastating to think that there are children as young as six, seven and eight, who are the same age as my own, going around on scooters and being facilitated in having access to them. We hear all the comments about An Garda Síochána needing to be resourced and equipped but the time has come for radical action.”
“We need to look at the measures that can be taken to ensure greater access to this very important scheme and in this regard we will bring forward amendments when this comes before the Dáil next week. We believe the Bill is very positive but it is timely to look at expanding the scheme to women aged up to 40 years. We also need to look at the age of access. We know the medical age of consent in this country is 16 but the age of access to the scheme is 17. We need to standardise this imbalance and ensure the age of access is 16. We also need to deal with the very specific barriers for women in IPAS centres and undocumented migrants who do not have a PPS number but very much should be able to access the scheme like every other woman in the country.”
“We spent a bit of time during the week talking to the National Women's Council. The research it has conducted is very interesting, whereby 36% of survey participants spoke about very real barriers, particularly for those do not have a PPS number, which is a requirement to access the scheme. There is an issue with regard to women in IPAS centres who do not have a PPS number. There is also an issue with regard to cultural prejudices, particularly assumptions by some healthcare providers that disabled women or LGBTQ+ women do not need contraception. We need to send out the very clear message that this should not be the case. I have already mentioned the geographical barriers.”
“An issue I have raised many times in this House is access to GPs in socially disadvantaged or fast-growing areas, where we know there is a lack of access or a long wait to access GPs. Empowering pharmacists to renew prescriptions is most welcome. When the scheme was introduced, it was for 17-to-25-year-olds and then it was extended to women up to their 36th year. The time has now come to extend the age range. We know the cost of extending it from 36- to 40-year-olds is just €5 million. It is not a big amount of money in the overall health budget but it would have a fundamental impact on women of this age. We know there are women well into their 40s who need access to contraception. We believe changing the age limit from 36 to 40, at a minimum, should happen now. As I said, it would be at not much cost. The other key issue is access.”
“We welcome this Bill. The free contraception scheme launched in 2022 was ground-breaking at the time but access to it has been an issue. In that regard, it is most welcome that prescription rights have been extended to pharmacists by this legislation. The other critical thing is that for all those women not eligible for the free contraception scheme - and I will talk about that in a minute - it will lower the cost of renewing their prescription. I think we are all in agreement that when there is no medical need to attend a GP, it makes eminent sense to allow pharmacists operate to the top of their licence and to devolve greater care to them in the community. We welcome that. There are cost barriers and geographical barriers, particularly for women in rural areas, to accessing their GP.”
“We know this with regard to the drugs that are out there. There are drugs that are being developed, which is fantastic, but we do not have the access. Many people do not have the access to the innovative drugs that are coming to market. In particular, I am thinking of lecanemab, which is privately available in Ireland but, of course, costs thousands of euro and is only available to those who can afford it. That is wrong. We need to change that. I know there is a cost associated with this but we need to make sure we can actually extend the quality of life of people with dementia in the years to come.”