Irish Examiner view: Plans for free HRT already in disarray

There was a pledge in Budget 2025 to offer free HRT from January.

The new year may be just over a week old, but we have already heard calls for clarity on the provision of free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women, and little wonder.

There was a pledge in Budget 2025 to offer free HRT from January, but last Friday this newspaper revealed that this free treatment will now only happen “as soon as possible”.

On Tuesday, both the Irish Pharmacy Union and the Irish Medical Organisation pointed out a significant issue with the proposals.

The organisations pointed out that their members have no information about the scheme, even though GPs and pharmacists are the ones who will be expected to administer it.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland chimed in earlier this week as well, stating: “There needs to be an explanation from the Department of Health as to the nature of the delay and when will it be provided free as announced in the budget.

“This needs to be a real priority for the new government. And actually the department just needs to give an explanation as to why the systems aren’t in place for the rollout in January.”

As noted above, there are slightly different issues here which should be clarified. A reason needs to be given as to why the free treatment cannot be provided this month — not only to determine the failings in departmental processes that have led to this problem, but also to ensure that those processes are improved for any future scheme.

There is also the significant issue of making promises that can’t be delivered. As far back as October, the IPU was expressing its concern with implementing the scheme and others were pointing to potential issues due to general shortages in HRT patches.

The biggest issue, however, is the failure to deliver on a medical issue that affects thousands of women — free treatment would be a huge help to them, and changing the January commitment to a promise of “as soon as possible” is an embarrassing reversal. The lack of preparation in the face of repeated warnings from those in the sector suggest that this issue has not been taken seriously at all, a disappointing outcome for half of the population.

Wildfire season is now year-round

Readers will no doubt be aware of the wildfires currently sweeping the Pacific Palisades area of California. 

While we may not always be au fait with such events, the roll-call of Hollywood stars living in the area has placed this blaze firmly in the headlines. An incomplete list of those who have already lost their homes in the fires includes Billy Crystal, Miles Teller, James Woods, and Paris Hilton, while many more have had to abandon their houses as the fires spread.

It is not the first time there have been wildfires in the area — in 1993, 18,000 acres burned in the region — and there are traditional challenges in fighting such fires: Strong winds prevented aircraft from taking off to help firefighters in this case, and those winds also help the fires to spread by blowing embers across roads and firebreaks.

An obvious question, however, is whether climate change is contributing to the severity of such events. At least two
recent studies argue that it is: One of those studies found the size of the areas burned each summer in northern and central California increased five-fold in 1996-2021 compared to 1971-1995, while the other suggested climate change had increased the risk of fast-spreading fires in California by approximately 25%.

California governor Gavin Newsom certainly seemed to hint at changed circumstances when he said: “This time of year traditionally has not been fire season, but now, we disabuse any notion that there is a season. It’s year-round in the state of California.”

Such comments should also be considered in light of US business attitudes to climate change.

The six biggest US banks have all quit the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group since December;
analysts believe the banks want to avoid “anti-woke” attacks when Donald Trump is inaugurated as president, given his scepticism about climate change.

It is truly dispiriting that evidence such as the California fires cannot persuade intelligent adults to do the right thing, but we must maintain our own standards and make our own efforts to combat this crisis.

Blazing trails of young scientists

It has been a very testing week for many areas of the country, with hundreds still without power and water at press time, and huge disruption when it comes to school opening, hospital services, and other vital appointments.

All the more reason to praise the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for going ahead despite the challenges posed by the weather. Kudos in particular to the students from Desmond College in Limerick, who made it to Dublin after locals used tractors to clear snow from the roads to ensure they would reach the exhibition in time.

A judging panel of 85 experts from the world of Stem and business will choose over 200 prize winners, including the overall winning entry, but the size and variety of the entries are in themselves a huge endorsement of students’ imagination and initiative — there are over 550 projects from 225 schools on show at the RDS.

It is an enjoyable outing for those students, but the competition as a whole also delivers a huge boost to Ireland’s reputation as a forward-thinking, progressive, well-educated economy. Long may it continue.

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