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Period Poverty

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

Ceisteanna (896, 897, 898)

Louise O'Reilly

Ceist:

896. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of providing free female hygiene products to all women in receipt of a general practitioner card. [18071/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Louise O'Reilly

Ceist:

897. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of providing free female hygiene products to all girls between 12 and 18 years of age. [18072/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Louise O'Reilly

Ceist:

898. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of providing free female hygiene products to all women in homeless shelters. [18073/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 896 to 898, inclusive, together.

The National Strategy for Women and Girls Strategy Committee which is led by the Department of Justice and Equality has established a sub-committee on period poverty, chaired by the Department of Health.

In line with Oireachtas motions passed in early 2019, its remit includes establishing the extent of period poverty and population cohorts most at risk in Ireland and making recommendations with regard to education, stigma reduction, targeting of at-risk groups and mainstreaming period poverty mitigation measures across all relevant Government Departments and public bodies.

The sub-committee is currently compiling a report of its work which will be submitted to the NSWG Strategy Committee in due course.

With regard to the average cost of period products, the following information has been provided to the sub-committee's deliberations:

The CSO advises that, among households with non-zero expenditure on sanitary pads and tampons, their estimates give an average weekly household expenditure of €1.86. An annual expenditure of €96.72 can therefore be estimated.

Data from the HSE Primary Care Reimbursement Service indicates that the number of women and girls aged 12-54 in receipt of a GP visit card is 54,800. The estimated cost of free period products for this group, using the CSO figures above, is €5.3m approximately. A similar estimate for the 389,150 women aged 12-54 with a GMS (medical) card is €37.6m per annum approximately.

Data from the 2016 Census shows the population of women aged between 12 and 18 resident in Ireland is 213,129. Therefore, it can be estimated that the provision of free period products for this group would cost €20.6m. Updated figures based on 2019 population estimates give 222,390 girls aged between 12-18, the corresponding estimated cost is €21.5m.

The most recent report from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (May 2020) concerning the numbers of people accessing local authority managed emergency accommodation, lists 2,221 female adults as homeless, the majority of whom would be of menstrual age (54 or under). Figures are also given for dependent children under the age of 18 who are also accessing homeless services (2787); assuming that age and gender distributions are even, one can estimate that 465 of these dependents are girls between 12 and 18. The estimated cost of free period products for this group is approximately €260,000 per annum.

It should be noted that Homeless Period Ireland have advised the NSWG Sub-Committee on Period Poverty that they currently supply donated period products to homeless shelters, addiction services, charities and other organisations on request. As their business model relies on redistribution of donated products and not money, the current cost of their services to homeless shelters cannot be estimated accurately.

Surveys and the scientific literature estimate that the majority of teenage girls require pain relief to manage their periods. The cost of this is not included in the CSO estimates above, but was included in estimates published by Plan International and on the Oireachtas website previously. These estimates ranged from €132 to €208 per woman per annum, when pain relief was included.

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