The rollout of the Free Contraception Scheme (FCS) in 2022 has been one of the key advancements for women’s health in recent years. In 2023 alone, the Scheme reached over 200,000 women. A few weeks ago, we saw another significant step forward to further improve access to contraception when in July 2026 the Health (Provision of Contraception Prescribing Service in Retail Pharmacy Businesses) Act 2026 – No. 32 of 2026 was signed into law by the President.  This legislation will empower community pharmacists to issue repeat prescriptions for short acting reversible contraceptives (such as the oral contraceptive pill) without the need for a GP visit. In practice, women will still need an initial consultation and prescription from a GP, but after that, a pharmacist, following a structured consultation and clinical protocol, will be able to renew that prescription directly.

This change matters for many reasons that go beyond the FCS. It matters because community pharmacists are, for many people, the most accessible healthcare professionals in the country. They require no appointment, operate extended hours, are present in almost every town, and are often the first, and sometimes only, point of contact people have with the health system, particularly for those in marginalised communities. For women organising work, caring responsibilities or transport, that accessibility is not just a plus, it is often the difference between staying on effective contraception and falling off it altogether.

However, while enabling pharmacists to provide continuation of hormonal contraception removes a key barrier for women accessing the free contraception scheme, many other hurdles remain.

This reform, welcome as it is, should be understood as one step in a longer path of improving access to contraception and overall healthcare and services for women in Ireland.  Recent research by the National Women’s Council that explored marginalised women’s experiences of the FCS makes that clear. The report found that while most women who fall within the scheme’s age eligibility (17 to 35 years old) are aware of it and are satisfied with it overall, serious structural gaps remain for those who fall outside its eligibility criteria. The age bracket, currently 17 to 35, was consistently raised by participants as a source of exclusion, despite the fact that perimenopausal symptoms and risk of unplanned pregnancy persist well beyond 35. Migrant women, particularly those without a PPSN or with insecure immigration status, described as being directly locked out of the scheme. Traveller women, disabled women and LGBTIQ+ people each described distinct barriers that are related less with cost and more with stigma, inaccessible information, and mistrust built up through negative encounters with providers.

Pharmacists being enabled to provide continuation of hormonal contraception does little to resolve these deeper equity gaps, because it still depends on that first GP visit and in being eligible, the very point at which many marginalised women report falling out of the system. While this new legislation is a stepping stone to improving access and opportunity of care, there is still space to improve comprehensive care for women. The FCS could be a good example of how service provision can not only be free but also respond to the specific needs of those who use it, by extending the FCS age range, closing the PPSN gap for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, ensuring that information is clear and translated for everyone who will use the service, and t providers in gender sensitivity to ensure that discrimination and intrusive questioning are not part of the service provision.

There is also a huge opportunity to model the ensuring that women are covered through their reproductive age all the way to menopause free of charge: a GP appointment for first prescription, continuation of the prescription through their pharmacist, supply needed to insert long-term contraception such as the IUD, and so on.

Looking further ahead, Ireland should continue building on the direction of this legislation. Other countries have already extended pharmacist prescribing further including, in some settings, allowing pharmacists to without a prior GP visit, with evidence of improved access for underserved populations. Ireland could similarly examine further reducing prescribing barriers, and, in time, consider whether appropriately trained pharmacists could play a role in the provision of early medical abortion, as has already been piloted or adopted in some other health systems. The principle of the conversation is the same: expanding the scope of practice of providers that are closer and more accessible to their communities and involving them in the provision of free of charge services is a critical step towards reducing basic barriers to healthcare and ensuring continuity of care.

Community pharmacists have proven, through the rollout of emergency contraception, vaccination programmes, gender based-violence strategies and now the new Contraception Prescribing Service, that they are ready and capable of taking on a greater role in women’s health.