Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in. This session is far more important than many of us might think. We all enjoy sports and watching sports, male and female, but the sad reality for many of us watching female competitive sports is it never crosses our mind that the menstrual cycle and periods are an issue women have to put up with, including when in the midst of a high-profile, competitive sport. We watch and do not think about that. This session is important in bringing that into the public domain and making sure we think this is something women have to deal with, especially in sport. We should not underestimate the importance of this session. We often bring in experts from different fields who are probably on hundreds of thousands of euro per year but the current witnesses are transition year students. It is just as important and the expertise they bring to this is phenomenal. That said, if they cannot answer any questions, that is completely understandable.

How many of the athletes the witnesses spoke to, whether high performance or across the board, referred to heavy bleedings or even endometriosis, which is a condition affecting many women? Did the research pick up on any women who experienced heavy bleeding during competitive sport and how that affected them mentally or physically?