Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a crisis in contraceptive use in Ireland, as reported today by the Dublin Well Woman Centre. It is no coincidence that there is also a crisis when it comes to sex education in Ireland. Earlier this year, an NUIG report showed that 15% of women in third level education said they were dissatisfied with their sex education in secondary school. Faith religion has no place when it comes to sex education. It is about time for us, as a country, to recognise we have to move beyond that. The NUIG report also reported that a young boy in secondary school was taught that looking at the cycle was better than using contraceptives.Those people are then moving to third level with that level of understanding. The report published today has shown that 50% of women aged between 17 and 45 years have had sex without using contraceptives.

A report from Growing up in Ireland, perhaps last year, showed those who are most disadvantaged are those least likely to use contraception, and that moves to the matter of cost. Along with my party colleague Deputy Ossian Smyth, I pushed for free contraception to be put into the programme for Government and was really disappointed to see the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, tell the Chamber last month that there had been a hold-up because of Covid. This is a crisis. It is about health but also about the well-being of our citizens. We need to see action on this immediately because it was part of the report of the Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. We cannot just move forward with one part of the State's obligation in terms of access to abortion. We must also move forward with care for children and access to contraceptives if we are truly going to say that we are an enlightened country that is moving into a new era.