Women’s hopes crushed by Government failure to deliver on healthcare promises
Women’s hopes crushed by Government failure to deliver on healthcare promises - The Labour Party
- Announce now, details later approach is failing women.
Labour’s health spokesperson Marie Sherlock has called out Government for failure to deliver on a range of healthcare promises for women.
Highlighting recent examples, Deputy Sherlock pointed to the expansion of the IVF scheme which has been delayed indefinitely, with many couples applying for the scheme have been told that they are not yet eligible, despite commitments made in Budget 2025.
Deputy Sherlock said:
“In the run up to the General Election, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were clearly in the business of buying women’s votes with a raft of commitments to improving access to healthcare for women. Now that the dust has settled, those commitments have vanished into thin air.
“I am now calling on the new Minister for Health to make it clear if she intends to deliver on the commitments made to women by her predecessor last October nine Budget 2025.
“Every time a commitment is made on these much needed schemes, women get their hopes and expectations up, only for this Government to leave them crushed when they fail to deliver.
“Women are constantly hyped up that change is coming for the benefit of a press release, only to later be told that there will be a delay in delivery. It’s not good enough.
“A commitment to introducing a publicly funded IVF scheme was first mooted in 2016. For thousands of couples seeking to have a child, this vital financial relief was a welcome step forward. Yet the scheme has been marked with countless fits and starts.
“There has been very restrictive criteria applied to the scheme and now the move to include families who already have children from accessing the scheme will be of huge disappointment. It flies in the face of commitments made to these families in Budget 2025.
“Some of these families have delayed adding to their family on the promise from Government that this would be addressed. It’s beyond cruel to treat women and families in this way.
“From a legislative point of view, including couples who have children but are seeking donor assistance should be straightforward. But this Government seems more focused on finding roadblocks than solutions when it comes to women’s health.”