Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for that very strong commitment at the end of her contribution. We will hold her to it. I am honoured to have proposed this motion and to respond on behalf of the women's caucus. It is an all-party motion, and I thank all speakers for their contributions to this important, productive and worthwhile debate. I commend again Deputy Catherine Martin, who has led on this from the start as chair of the caucus. I commend all the others who have worked on this issue in Ireland and elsewhere. I refer to Homeless Period Ireland, Tropical Popical, Andrew Horan, who was mentioned, Councillor Rebecca Moynihan, who led at Dublin City Council, and Plan International, which has been leading on this in terms of women in developing countries. A significant volume of work has been done.

The motion and debate are an important step forward, as was the debate in the Dáil, to address both the practical issues of period poverty and the lack of affordability of sanitary products and the cultural issue of the stigma, shame and taboo surrounding speaking about periods. It is a taboo about speaking not just about periods, but also about period pain. Senator Higgins reminded me of the huge issue for so many women of endometriosis, something that so many women must deal with on an ongoing basis, yet, again, it is not spoken about and is very much linked with the issue of periods. We need to talk about this, and today was an important step on the road to making this much more spoken about and to raising awareness of it. We need to raise awareness of a range of issues surrounding periods, including intersectional issues, and we have done that today. The motion also does this by raising issues in respect of homeless women and women in direct provision, who face particular challenges in dealing with periods and period poverty. We also need to see issues of period poverty as part of a package of measures. This was addressed by a number of speakers when they spoke about women's health measures more generally, such as free contraception care and sexual and reproductive health.

I am glad the Minister of State will speak directly with the Minister, Deputy Harris, about this. It is also, of course, an issue of education, and again, her colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, will also need to examine how schools are dealing with this and incorporating education on periods with both boys and girls. It was important we had the school groups in with us today - those great finalists from the Politics Needs Women competition. I am proud to wear my Vótáil 100 badge because those students engaged in that competition as part of our centenary celebrations of winning women the right to vote 101 years ago. It is part of a multifaceted response. I know there has been much debate about sports facilities, FAI stadiums and other sporting facilities also needing to provide free sanitary products, as we have seen on the pilot basis by Dublin City Council and other councils.

Within the motion we have made some practical asks of the Government, and I will highlight perhaps two of them which were highlighted in the debate. The first is the need to provide free sanitary products in State-run facilities, not just council facilities, such as educational institutions, detention centres and so on. Let us start in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Someone mentioned the cost of sanitary products in the Houses of the Oireachtas, in Leinster House. We can all move forward on this through the women's caucus. That is one very practical measure. Second, we must address the issue of VAT. As the Minister of State said in her comprehensive response, this is something we have addressed to some degree here in Ireland, but we need to try to change things at EU level on the VAT directive. We also need to address the issue of new products to ensure they, too, can be zero-rated for VAT.

Finally, I was struck by comments made by Senator Dolan about the lack of reference to periods in literature, including in fiction, and so many other aspects of our culture, and not just in political discourse. That is very true. We have seen so little reference to something that is a fact of life for half the population during the middle four decades of our lives. In fact, there was reference in a cultural context to the issue in the Seanad last September, when we had an event for Culture Night as part of our Vótáil 100 programme. We had poetry readings, and one of those who spoke, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, who is an Irish-language poet, recited a poem, "While Bleeding", in English. I thought the text of that poem might be a good way to finish, to remind us of our common experience as women and of the need to speak more about that common experience, and to share it with our male colleagues - I am glad there were male colleagues present for the debate and that they participated in it:

I am wrapped in the weight of old red: ...

lipstick blotted on tissue,

bitten lips, a rough kiss,

all the red bled into pads and rags,

the weight of red, the wait for red, that we share.