Period products should be freely available to all who need them according to the charity Homeless Period Ireland.
Last year, Lidl launched a major new scheme providing free sanitary pads and tampons to help tackle period poverty in Ireland.
The retailer has distributed more than 80,000 free products in the ten months since through the Lidl Plus App, the Simon Communities and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning Claire Hunt from Homeless Period Ireland said the Lidl programme has had a massive impact – but the State must now step in and make period products freely available to all who need them.
“I think what Lidl have done is absolutely fantastic and it is ground-breaking, but at this stage, it is a non-contentious issue and I just think period products should be available,” she said.
“There is a bill in front of the Seanad at the moment that would support everyone who needs period products being able to obtain them free of charge, so I really think that needs to happen.
“I mean we shouldn’t go into a toilet somewhere and be surprised, oh they stock period products. We don’t say that about toilet paper and I know they don’t directly compare, but I just think there needs to be more accessibility in schools and universities and we need to support our homeless services better, our domestic abuse refuges and our Direct Provision centres.”
Period poverty
She said period poverty is global issue that affects millions of people.
“Period poverty, at its most simple, is just a facet of financial poverty,” she said.
“A frustration for me at times is that you put period in front of poverty and it becomes a trendy sort of bandwagon issue that is spoke about around women’s day but sadly this issue is ongoing.
“As we all know, periods happen every month and for a lot of people at the moment, we are talking about issues with the cost of living and anyone experiencing food or fuel poverty will inevitably experience period poverty.”
Action
Mr Hunt said that, while there is cross-party support in the Dáil for measures to prevent period poverty, the momentum behind the issue “seems to kind of stop and start”.
“This is very fixable so let’s do something about it,” she said.
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