National Women’s Council welcomes The Women’s Health Action Plan: Phase 3 while calling for stronger

Published: Wednesday, July 08, 2026

Following today's (8th July 2026) launch of the Women's Health Action Plan 2026–2027: Phase 3, the National Women's Council (NWC) welcomed the Government's continued commitment to improving women's healthcare.

NWC attended today's Action Plan launch following ongoing engagement through their membership of the Department’s Women's Health Taskforce.

The previous phases of the Women's Health Action Plans have delivered important progress in recent years, including the introduction of the Free Contraception Scheme, Specialist Menopause Clinics, Ambulatory Gynaecology Clinics, Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services and Postnatal Hubs.

Building on this progress, the third phase includes welcome commitments to improve data on the gendered impact of family care on women and identify the types of health and social care supports that are needed. NWC also welcomes the inclusion of dedicated actions on female genital mutilation (FGM) and women's health in prison, recognising the importance of addressing the needs of women facing particular health inequalities.

However, there is still a long way to go. Too many women continue to face barriers to essential healthcare, such as racism and discrimination, dismissal, challenges affording care, lack of availability of services.

NWC is calling on Government to build on the progress made to date by ensuring future Women's Health Action Plans place equality and a rights-based approach at the centre of every action.

Head of Policy at the National Women’s Council, Doireann Crosson, said:

"The Women's Health Action Plans have transformed women's healthcare in Ireland and we welcome the publication of this third phase. NWC particularly welcomes the commitment to improve data on the gendered impact of family care, the commitment to expand the Free Contraception Scheme and to introduce pharmacist prescribing. These are important steps that have the potential to improve women's access to healthcare.

However, NWC would have liked to see a more comprehensive approach to data collection as well as clearer timelines in relation to the expansion of the Free Contraception scheme.

Too many women still face unacceptable barriers to healthcare simply because of who they are, where they live or the circumstances they are in. The Women’s Health Action Plan must move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. Progress in women's health cannot be considered complete while barriers to accessing high-quality, equitable and gender-sensitive healthcare remain. The next phase must put equality at its heart so that every woman can access the healthcare she needs throughout her life."

Senior Policy Co-ordinator, Dr Paula Pinzón Hernández, said:

"The National Women's Council encourages Government to continue listening to women's voices and learning from their lived experiences when designing and delivering women's healthcare. This approach was reflected in recent research such as Our Health, Our Voices, a project led by the National Women's Council in partnership with the Department of Health under Action 1E of the Women's Health Action Plan. The project centred the experiences of women facing the greatest health inequalities and demonstrated the importance of designing services with those most affected.”

Concrete actions NWC wants to see include:

• Strengthening equality data collection by routinely collecting disaggregated data across gender, ethnicity, disability, age, socio-economic status, migration status and geography,
• Embedding gender-sensitive and trauma-informed healthcare across the health system,
• Compulsory gender-sensitive, trauma-informed, anti-racism and anti-discrimination training for all healthcare professionals,
• Expanding the Free Contraception Scheme with clear timelines for the expansion of the age limits and the legislation of pharmacist prescriptions. Furthermore, it is critical to coordinate actions to ensure that access is not limited by a woman's immigration status,
• Improving access to specialist women's health services for women in all their diversity,
• And continuing to remove barriers to reproductive healthcare (including expanding the eligibility criteria to access the publicly funded assisted human reproduction services and ensuring abortion care is equitable and accessible for all women).