People Before Profit has welcomed a proposal by the Health Minister to fund IVF treatment. The party however qualified their welcome to the plan by pointing out that there has been no indication that the funding has been secured to make sure this will happen.
Paul Murphy TD, who has spoken out about his and his partner’s experience with IVF reacted to the announcement by Minister Stephen Donnelly that the government plans to fund IVF treatment in 2023:
“I welcome the announcement that the government plans to fund IVF treatment. It would mean that Ireland is no longer the only country in Europe without any public provision of IVF. However, I’ll believe it when I see it. This was first promised back in 2016 by Leo Varadkar when he was Minister for Health. There is no indication that the investment is being made to ensure that this will actually happen in 2023. It should be provided as part of a free quality national health service, as opposed to publicly funded treatment at private facilities.”