Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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651. To ask the Minister for Health the amount spent on providing abortions and associated services to date; the steps taken with regard to the human remains when an abortion takes place; the counselling services offered by the State, voluntary sector and so on for women with unplanned pregnancies; the amount being spent on the provision of counselling services for women with unplanned pregnancies; the way in which the economic, social and other issues are being addressed in the context of a woman with an unplanned pregnancy wishing to keep or adopt her baby; and the amount spent on the provision of these specific services. [5186/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas and signed into law by the President in December 2018. Expanded termination of pregnancy services commenced on 1 January 2019. 

In relation to the queries raised by the Deputy around the cost of providing services in this area, the following allocations were made for each year in which the service has been in operation:

In 2019, the first year in which the expanded service was provided, €11.5 million was allocated for the provision of expanded termination of pregnancy services under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. Of this, €7 million was allocated to enable the implementation of the service in the acute hospital system, and €4.5 million was allocated to fund delivery termination of pregnancy services in the community setting through primary care providers.

In 2020, €21.5 million was allocated for the provision of termination of pregnancy services under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. Of this, €12 million was allocated for provision of the service in the acute hospital setting, and €9 million was allocated to fund the delivery of termination of pregnancy services in the community setting, of which €1 million funding was provided for crisis pregnancy counselling and information helpline service, and €1 million for ongoing communications campaigns. 

The National Service Plan for 2021 is still being finalised at the present time and will be published in due course. 

As the other issues raised by the Deputy in his question are service matters, including the treatment of remains following termination of pregnancy, crisis pregnancy counselling and related other services provided by the State, these have been referred to the HSE for answer as soon as possible.