Plans for enhanced preventive healthcare and the “upscaling” of existing schemes for free contraception and menopause clinics are among measures in the latest Women’s Health Action Plan due to be launched on Wednesday. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill is set to unveil the third action plan for women’s health – which will cover 2026 to 2027 at Tallaght University Hospital.The plan went to Cabinet on Tuesday and a Government statement said “key actions” include €2 million being ring-fenced for women’s health research and “enhanced access to proactive and preventative healthcare to support a better quality of life”.Examples of this are “screening, early detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease in young women and exploration of a Women’s Health Programme in general practice.”Another measure will be the “embedding and upscaling” of women’s health initiatives put in place through the implementation of the first two action plans including the free contraception scheme, specialist menopause clinics, mental health services and postnatal hubs.The statement also said: “The plan spotlights key areas that women and girls have asked us to prioritise, including endometriosis and cultural and gender sensitivity awareness for healthcare professionals.”Separately at Cabinet, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan got Government to note the 2025 annual report of the Courts Service. Last year saw 23,560 video courtroom appearances, the highest figure to date, as well as the first full year of the operation of Civil Restraining Orders, with 1,839 orders made in the District Court.The Government also extended a scheme for the remediation of homes damaged by defective concrete to parts of Co Meath and all of Co Carlow following a recommendation from the Housing Agency. The post-Cabinet statement said: “Based on current averages under the scheme and the number of homes affected in Meath (2) and Carlow (10-100) the cost of adding these counties to the scheme will likely be of the order of €4.5m to €35 million.”Meanwhile, the Government agreed not to oppose legislation tabled in the Seanad by Independent Senator Rónán Mullen aimed at make it a criminal offence for website controllers to fail to ensure that pornography is not accessible to children. However, while the Government will not oppose the Protection of Children (Online Age Verification) Bill 2026 progressing to second stage, it does have concerns about the Bill – an indication that it could face hurdles later in the legislative process.The Government statement said: “While the objective of the Bill aligns with the Government policy to keep children safe online, there are some legal and practical difficulties that make it incompatible with EU laws on digital services and on data protection.”It also noted: “There is also no role for Coimisiún na Meán [the Media Commission] in the Bill” and its designation as the supervisory authority for the Online Safety Code and “the method of age verification set out in the Bill is invasive, requiring online services to seek a good deal of personal information, more than is necessary to confirm whether a person is over 18 or not.”The statement said: “The Government shares the overall objective of this Bill – protecting children from pornography – the approach taken is clearly inconsistent with Government and EU policy and regulation.”