Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said he would like to see IVF made available through the public health system "in principle" but said there were more urgent demands on finances.
The fertility treatment is provided free on the NHS in the UK in certain cases. “On the specific issue of whether there will be public funding of fertility treatments, that’s currently not the case. Although there are tax benefits you can avail of,” he said.
“Obviously it is all subject to finance. At the moment, there are more pressing demands on the health service. It’s something that I would favour in principle but there are many more urgent funding demands on the health service at the moment.”
He was speaking at the National Maternity Hospital on Dublin’s Holles Street, where he opened a new neonatal intensive-care unit for premature and sick babies.
Fine Gael TD Catherine Byrne, who represents Dublin South Central, called for IVF to be publicly funded last year. She said many couples needed to try the treatment more than once and experienced huge financial strain as a result.
