Fianna Fail Senator and Chair of the Oireachtas Women’s Caucus Fiona O’Loughlin has welcomed the signing into law of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Act 2022 by President Micheal D Higgins.
Senator O’Loughlin said, “This is a vital piece of legislation that Fianna Fail have championed in Government.”
“Once commenced, the Act will provide for the abolition of both overnight and day case public in-patient charges for children less than 16 years of age in all public hospitals and also provides for the introduction of a free contraception scheme for women aged 17-25. The two measures are scheduled to come into operation by early September this year.”
“These are issues I have been championing within Fianna Fail and I am pleased to see Minister Donnelly delivering them. As Chair of the Oireachtas Women’s caucus I am particularly delighted to see free contraception being delivered. Given the cost of prescriptions and other costs associated with contraception, usually incurred by women, this measure will help ease the financial burden on young women, and I will be pushing for an expansion of this in the upcoming budgets.”
Fiona concluded by saying “In the context of current cost-of-living challenges, I am delighted that we have been able to introduce these two significant measures aimed at alleviating cost pressures for individuals and families when seeking to access healthcare.”
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