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Extra.ie
7 hours ago
- Health
- Extra.ie
Month-long wait for access to free HRT medication
Women are facing 'significant' monthlong waits to access free Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT), has learned. It comes just over a week after the Government rolled out its scheme to provide free-HRT. The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) revealed this weekend that 93 per cent of Ireland's near-2,000 pharmacies have signed up to the scheme. But the growing demand for HRT has exacerbated supply chain issues, resulting in significant delays for some women trying to access the medications, according to the IPU. Spokeswoman Kathy Maher told 'We have seen a huge growth in women who use HRT and the shortages have been a problem for about three years now.' Women are facing 'significant' monthlong waits to access free Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT), has learned. Pic: Shutterstock HRT, which is used to relieve symptoms of menopause, perimenopause and post-menopause, is now freely available under the State-backed scheme. Pharmacies who sign up to the scheme receive a dispensing fee of €5 per item. They are also given a €2,000 once-off grant for transition arrangements such as upgrading their ICT systems. The IPU previously argued the €5 dispensing fee was too low and called for it to be raised to at least €6.50 as pharmacists threatened to boycott the scheme. But now more than nine-in-ten pharmacies have signed up after the IPU endorsed a revised version of the scheme following talks with the Department of Health. Welcoming the introduction of the scheme and the HSE's Pharmacy Finder – a tool that allows patients to locate local participating pharmacies – Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said that, as of June 1, 'every woman in Ireland has free access to both essential HRT products and the dispensing fees, removing financial barriers and providing vital support during all stages of menopause'. More than 500,000 women aged between 45 and 64 are eligible for the scheme. The medication comes in various forms including tablets, patches, gels, creams and pessaries. The medication comes in various forms including tablets, patches, gels, creams and pessaries. Pic: Shutterstock However, the popularity of the scheme is already having an impact on limited supplies of the medication. The IPU said that due to shortages of certain HRT forms, pharmacists often have to refer women back to their GP to approve an alternative. Ms Maher said HRT patches are the most commonly prescribed form of HRT but face the worst shortages because they are 'more complex' to manufacture. Pharmacists are also frustrated as essential HRT orders often fail to arrive on time and with the necessary stock. Ms Maher, who runs the Haven Pharmacy in Duleek, Co. Meath, added: 'At the beginning of every month we will receive an allocation of the medicines that are in short supply. But I don't know what's coming in.' The popularity of the scheme is already having an impact on limited supplies of the medication. Pic: Shutterstock The IPU said the solution is difficult because 'it's a supply chain issue, there's little they [Government] can really do'. Ms Maher said the development of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), which would allow pharmacists to dispense alternative medications without needing to contact the patient's GP first, will help to address the delays. The Oireachtas is considering the Health Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2024, which would allow pharmacists to substitute medications in certain circumstances. The Department of Health said it is 'aware of the stress that shortages of medicines, including HRT products, can cause for patients and healthcare professionals'. In a statement to a spokesman said: 'Managing and mitigating these shortages is a priority, with several workstreams actively engaged across the Department and the broader health service. The Health Products Regulatory Authority has engaged with suppliers to understand the reasons for current reports and to examine opportunities for regulatory flexibilities to assist meeting current demand.' Reporting by Kate Lynch
Irish Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Flute teacher to appeal WRC ruling he was not a whistleblower over alleged misuse of public money
A flute teacher who claimed he was penalised for blowing the whistle on an alleged misuse of public funds at a State-backed music school intends to appeal a tribunal ruling that complaints he raised did not amount to a protected disclosure.
RTÉ News
23-05-2025
- RTÉ News
Flute teacher to appeal WRC ruling he was not a whistleblower
A flute teacher who claimed he was penalised for blowing the whistle on an alleged misuse of public funds at a State-backed music school intends to appeal a tribunal ruling that complaints he raised did not amount to a protected disclosure. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has rejected a claim under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 by Hugh Rance, a long-serving music teacher at the Cork Education and Training Board School of Music. The tribunal has dismissed Mr Rance's case with a ruling that his claims alleging "waste and misuse of public funds" by the management of the school in late 2023, due to the level of vacant teaching hours, did not amount to a protected act. Mr Rance, who appeared before the WRC last year as a lay litigant, said today that he was taking legal advice and intended to appeal the ruling to the Labour Court. At a hearing last August at the WRC's offices on Eglinton Street in Cork, Mr Rance claimed that he and some of his colleagues had been paid for an "enormous number" of teaching hours with student vacancies over the preceding five years. He said the problem had been building up since 2011, when responsibility for recruiting new students passed from the music teachers themselves to staff at Cork ETB School of Music's main office. He told the Commission he calculated that his own teaching hours were 63% vacant, costing the State in the region of €50,000 a year - calling it a "waste and misuse of public funds" and "gross mismanagement". Mr Rance said that having discussed the matter with his colleagues, he discovered that 18 music teachers at the school had "excess vacant hours for a number of years" - their rates of unutilised teaching hours ranging from 35% to 70% in one case. In a September 2023 email, Mr Rance wrote to a manager referring to "serious implications of fiscal irresponsibility" and an "ineffective recruitment strategy". He said this had resulted in a situation where "a teacher ends up, as is now the case, with 11 students instead of between 30 and 40 students". "This has resulted in only having enough students to teach for nine hours a week, instead of the contracted 22 hours for which they are paid," Mr Rance's email added. He said "all the flute teachers" had student vacancies in October 2024 and he was aware that 18 music teachers had "excess vacant hours for a number of years". The email "bounced back" as that manager "no longer worked" at the organisation, the tribunal heard. Mr Rance then emailed Denis Leamy, the chief executive of the Cork ETB, on 2 October, with a copy of the September 30 letter. The complainant asked the CEO to: "personally review the email and letter and let me know what your intentions are in resolving the issues referred to". He denied a suggestion that he bears a "personal vendetta" against the school principal Carol Daly - and insists he just wanted to see the school "back on track". The chief executive, Mr Leamy, said of the October 2 email: "It was not new news. We knew about vacancies." He said Mr Rance had caused "a good deal of upset to staff" with "a continuum of threats… on Freedom of Information, Protected Disclosure and data access deadlines", which had taken "thousands of hours" for administrators to address. He said CETB had determined that the 2 October 2023 email from Mr Rance was "not found to constitute a protected disclosure", and denied any penalisation. Giving evidence, Ms Daly told the WRC she knew nothing of Mr Rance's original email until June 2024, after his WRC complaint was filed, and "denied gross mismanagement", the WRC noted. Flute lessons were "not popular" following the Covid-19 pandemic, she told the commission, referring to the sharing of instruments. Ms Daly said she was "flabbergasted" by his allegations, denied the School of Music was "stagnant" and said it was "re-energising through promotional videos and external public relations". Enda McWeeney, CETB's finance director, carried out a review of Mr Rance's correspondence, but ultimately concluded that the material put in front of him was "a bare allegation, and not a protected disclosure". He said there had been five teachers "underutilised" at the School of Music, according to attendance records, but that he did not think a financial audit was necessary. In her decision, adjudication officer Patsy Doyle wrote: "What occurred in this case amounted to a matter of interpersonal grievance exclusively affecting the complainant and his line manager". "The complainant had a different opinion in how the school was progressing and somehow could not find a platform to express these views through individual or collect[ive] grievances," the adjudication officer said. "I find I cannot elevate these grievances to what the law requires in a protected disclosure," Ms Doyle added, dismissing the penalisation complaint.
The Hindu
17-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Rajasthan finalises action plan for M-sand plot auctions to curb illegal mining
In a significant policy move aimed at streamlining construction material supply and curbing illegal mining, the Rajasthan government has finalised an action plan for delineating and auctioning plots designated for manufactured sand (M-sand) units. The decision follows the State's recognition of M-sand units as an industry, extending them official status to encourage investment and development. Principal Secretary (Mines) T. Ravikanth announced on Saturday (May 17, 2025) that 109 plots have been identified under the plan. Of these, 77 plots spanning a total of 158 hectares are earmarked for M-sand units, while 32 overburden dumping plots covering 131 hectares will also be prepared for e-auction. Notably, 26 plots have already been successfully auctioned, aimed at increasing the supply of M-sand for the construction sector. The initiative marks a strategic shift in response to a 2017 Supreme Court directive that imposed a ban on riverbed sand (commonly known as bajri) mining in Rajasthan. The top court had ordered a scientific replenishment study and subsequent clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests before any resumption of mining activities. A Central Empowered Committee (CEC) was subsequently constituted to examine the issue of illegal sand extraction. The court's intervention had led to a sharp decline in the availability of legally mined riverbed sand, resulting in a spike in prices and the emergence of a sand mining mafia operating in defiance of environmental norms. Though environmental clearance was eventually granted to 60 mining zones in 2022, the lag in supply had already hampered several infrastructure projects across the State. The new policy on M-sand, which seeks to reduce reliance on riverbed resources, is expected to ease supply bottlenecks and bolster environmental safeguards. It enables investors to establish M-sand units while availing themselves of State-backed incentives and infrastructural support. Officials say the move is also expected to instil public confidence in the quality and utility of M-sand for construction. Addressing officials at a departmental review meeting held at Khanij Bhawan, Mr. Ravikanth emphasised that promotion of legal mining is key to checking illegal extraction activities. He directed the Mines Department to expedite the delineation and auction of mineral plots, including both major and minor categories. In addition, Mr. Ravikanth said that efforts are under way to identify new revenue sources for the department and plug existing leakages. He noted that the auction process for 22 major mineral blocks had already commenced at the beginning of the current financial year.
BreakingNews.ie
28-04-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Decision to delay start of auto-enrolment pensions due to ‘logistical issue'
A Government decision to delay the start of an auto-enrolment for hundreds of thousands of workers in a State-backed pension scheme is down to a 'logistical issue', Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said. Mr Martin said there were doubts as to whether the Government could have the enrolment in place by September, and it is expected to begin in January next year instead. Advertisement Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers previously confirmed the delay to the rollout earlier this month. He also confirmed delays to increase the minimum wage. 'Auto-enrolment has nothing at all to do with competitiveness. The Government is promoting auto-enrolment,' Mr Martin said on Monday. 'There's a logistical issue as to whether they can get ready for September or January. That's the only issue. Advertisement 'We've done a lot of work in the last number of years on promoting workers' rights and [there have been] significant increases in minimum wage and so on. 'We need balance and perspective in debate now. 'The auto-enrolment issue is nothing to do with competitiveness or anything like that. 'It's an issue of making sure that it will be ready logistically. Advertisement 'There was some doubts. I think the previous minister was determined to try and get it ready for September, which we all supported.' Mr Martin said the Government is 'absolutely clear' on rolling out auto-enrolment. 'There's no pullback on that. There's no resiling from that in any shape or form,' he added. 'I want to make that absolutely clear, because I think it's a fundamental progressive move for many, many workers who will have a deficiency in pensions by the time they retire. Advertisement Ireland Minister signals delays on minimum wage and auto-e... Read More 'It is probably one of the more radical interventions we can make. 'It has taken a lot of time and a lot of work between different Government departments to get it to where it is today. We're very determined to see it through. 'A few months in terms of the date of delivery, given the enormity of the initiative, is not something I would attribute to an antipathy to workers.'
