Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to offer my thanks to the ushers and to the other staff of the Oireachtas. They have shown great kindness and have made me feel very welcome, as have many people in this Chamber. I hope everyone working here also gets a wonderful break. The Boyne valley is less than an hour away, so they might zip up there and have a look-see.

I would like to take a moment to refer to the controversy that raged this week in respect of a Tampax ad. I will not weigh in on the quality or merits of the ad. All sorts of ads are ill-advised, but we do not take them off the air. As a nation we need to get over the hysteria, a word I use deliberately, that arises whenever we get down to the nitty-gritty of bodies and bodily functions. The unwarranted response did nothing to deal with period poverty in Ireland or globally. In the last session both Houses passed motions around period poverty, which shows that we can have a relatively mature conversation about periods and the needs of people who have them. Yesterday, the House also discussed the work of the Homeless Period Ireland project. It should not have to do that work. Another Senator talked about someone in direct provision who was incontinent and was given a bucket. We need to have a mature conversation about women's bodies and the bodies of people who have periods. I cannot wait for the trolls to attack me for referring to "people who have periods".

I will not go into a kumbaya circle about when I had my first period, but it is problematic for the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland to insist that someone needs to be over 18 to see certain kinds of ads, an age at which people have had periods for more than half their lives. I also want to commend the Irish Family Planning Association on its Because She Counts campaign. I know many people in this House supported that.

Finally I note that today is Eid al-Adha. I do not know if Members saw the coverage of events in Croke Park this morning. It was a wonderful example of Ireland's céad míle fáilte, pluralism, religious tolerance and inclusion. I want to take this moment to wish all of my Muslim friends Eid Mubarak.