Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the young women from Politics Needs Women to the House. It is great to see so many young women and they are all welcome. I hope, before too long, they will be in these seats and the seats in the Dáil. We need more women's voices and this motion is an example of that. It is not just more women that we need across the board but women from different backgrounds with different experiences who bring different issues and priorities to this House. We see it in the group of women here in the House. Each of us brings a unique piece and it is like putting a jigsaw together. It makes things work and it leads to good debate and legislation when we have well-rounded and informed input into the legislation.

I also thank the women's caucus and, in particular, Deputy Catherine Martin, who was here, for the great work she does on the caucus and for bringing forward this important motion which I am happy to support It is a comprehensive motion, which is well thought-out and clear in its objectives. We have had problems in the past with motions being agreed with by the Government but not delivered on. The Minister of State is welcome to the House and I urge her and the Leader to ensure the motion is acted on and not just shelved once passed.

I will speak to the issue of period poverty among those in direct provision centres. In November, the Minister for Justice and Equality told my colleague, Deputy Adams, in a response to a parliamentary question that the independent living model would be rolled out across direct provision centres. That model is a points-based system on access to toiletries and other products that would be based on family composition and need. The Minister stated that supplies of women's sanitary products would be made available as required for those centres that did not yet have this model and that the cost would be borne by the Department. As far as I know, that has still not happened. There are women who receive only €38.30 a week. They are not in a position to work, so they have to use up a significant chunk of that weekly allowance on sanitary products. That is wrong so I welcome the call in this motion for these products to be provided free in direct provision centres. I urge the Minister to ensure that this is rolled out immediately.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, in his reply to this motion in the Dáil referenced the Government's national strategy for women and girls. I could not find a reference to menstruation or periods in that document but it is possible I missed it so perhaps the Minister of State could specify how that strategy fits with this motion in her reply.

It is interesting that the motion is a great example of what happens when women are represented within power structures. While women are in Parliament because they are qualified and have earned the right to be here, we cannot ignore the barriers currently faced by women in accessing and occupying certain roles. There are barriers to women who are carers, or mothers of children with disabilities and for other women who cannot access the power structures they need. Representation is important because sometimes one can only understand things fully through lived experience and this topic is a perfect example. That is why, in the short term, gender quotas are needed to ensure that women like those who are here today, and, therefore, women's lived experiences, are properly heard within Parliament. We could also speculate if we missed period poverty for this long, what else are we missing when we do not have voices from, say, Traveller backgrounds or migrants represented?Let us take the positivity and learning from this motion and expand it to other areas. We have much to gain.

This motion also highlights an ideological point that is so important and that is the crux of the different approaches of different parties and the alternative we in the left are trying to offer. This motion argues that no one chooses to menstruate and those who are struggling financially are facing a cost for looking after their essential health. What we are really saying is that healthcare should be based on need, not ability to pay. If a woman needs to access free sanitary products, she should be able to do so, end of story. It is our vision that this approach is broadened to become the ideology driving all of our healthcare decisions from seeing a psychologist to getting a spinal operation. These things should be based on need, not income.

The important work of tackling period poverty has already begun on the ground. In September last year, Councillor Sandra Duffy passed a motion for Derry City and Strabane District Council to provide free sanitary products. At the same time, Dublin City Council passed a similar motion. My colleague, Lynn Boylan, MEP, has called for sanitary products to be tested and regulated because of safety concerns, in particular with regard to "menstrual cups", which are environmentally friendly and are becoming popular in Ireland. Safety checks on these products are not currently carried out in Ireland. I am hopeful that this work together on the ground and in these Houses and in Europe will result in real and substantive change on the issue of period poverty. I thank the Oireachtas Women's Parliamentary Caucus and the background staff who worked extremely hard to get this motion to this stage today. I look forward to its full implementation.