The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will today (Wednesday 22 March) introduce legislation in the Dáil aimed at abolishing adult public in-patient charges in public hospitals from next month.

The Health (Amendment) Bill 2023 is scheduled to commence in the Oireachtas later today.

The Bill was published on Friday 10 March and will, when enacted, remove the acute public in-patient charge of €80 per day, up to a maximum of €800 in a year (including day-case charges), for people accessing care as a public patient in all public hospitals. Charges for children under 16 were abolished in 2022, and this is the next step in the removal of charges for all.

See full press release here