Pharmacies will start providing free hormone replacement therapy for women from 1 June after an agreement with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Minister MacNeill and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) confirmed the development today, after a dispute over the amount of money pharmacies should be paid by the State for dispensing the service.
Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is a treatment that involves taking hormones to address menopausal symptoms, and which can help to manage related health conditions.
The IPU and the Government have been in discussions for a number of months over how to provide the service for free to women who wish to avail of it, with the issue being raised earlier this month at the IPU's annual conference attended by Minister MacNeill.
Negotiations had centred on whether pharmacists should be paid a €6.50 dispensing fee in order to provide the service.
However, Ms MacNeill told RTÉ News it has now been agreed that the dispensing fee will be €5 with further discussions on related costs.
"We've landed on €5," Ms MacNeill said.
"We gave a couple of options, one was €5 and the other was for pharmacies to charge whatever they chose to charge and I would give them a signing-up fee to do that.
"Everybody has had a chance to reflect on that," she said.
Ms MacNeill said the scheme means that "from 1 June women will be able to go in and get their HRT for free", adding that she hopes pharmacies sign up to the plan "quickly so as to be ready for June to enable women to get their free HRT".
In a separate statement, IPU president Tom Murray said: "Our main priority with the HRT scheme has been to ensure women receive the medication they need without cost.
"We are endorsing the scheme in good faith, backed by the broader commitments in this framework, including a review of the pharmacy fee structure."
Women should be reimbursed for HRT spend - Soc Dems
The Social Democrats' health spokesperson Pádraig Rice said that women "who have spent hundreds of euro on HRT already this year" should be reimbursed.
"A firm commitment was given, by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, that free HRT would be rolled out for women from January this year. That commitment was breached," said Mr Rice.
"Instead, the Health Minister has been unable to get an agreement, with the Irish Pharmacy Union, over the line until today.
"While I welcome the fact that this deal has belatedly been reached, women who rely on HRT have already spent, on average, hundreds of euro on this vital medication this year.
"If government promises are to mean anything, then this money should be reimbursed to all of those women," added Mr Rice.
