Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, I congratulate the Scottish Parliament for what it did the other day. It is the first country to legalise free period products in the world and Labour MSP, Monica Lennon, guided this measure through the Scottish Parliament. It is being rolled out in a number of places, including through local authorities and by looking to provide them in public buildings. In the last term of the Dáil, the Women’s Caucus had a motion on the issue of period poverty or period justice and I seek a discussion on this issue in this House. If possible, Members would try to reach a cross-party consensus on how to deal with this issue and to avoid being subject to a money message if I consider drafting a Private Members’ Bill along similar lines to what has happened in Scotland.

It is a very important issue particularly for younger women who have difficulty in affording the type of sanitary products and protections they need, together with the impact that has on their education and, in particular, people who have issues like endometriosis and who may have heavier bleeds. Access to what is a basic hygiene product is a discussion we need to have. It should be considered a basic hygiene product. I compliment the Government on reducing reusable products to a VAT rate of 0% in the budget but we need to have a wider discussion on this issue. It is to be hoped that we would follow Scotland’s lead in being a world leader in this regard. When I was on Dublin City Council, I brought forward a motion that all public buildings within the council’s control would provide free sanitary products. The sum of €100,000 was secured in last year’s budget and has been incorporated into this year’s budget for this, and a pilot project was rolled out. I have been disappointed with the rate of progress and it has certainly taken time but in the buildings within which it has been rolled out, it is not abused or seen as being a big deal. It has, however, provided significant comfort to people who need access to sanitary products, for example, in the leisure centres. Any council employees to whom I have spoken in buildings in which it has been operational have said it has worked very well.

Finally, it is worth having a discussion in this House on the cost of citizenship. I compliment my colleague Senator Ivana Bacik on the Bill on citizenship she is bringing forward in terms of the principle, “born here, belong here”. There is a growing issue for EU citizens as to the high cost of citizenship. If one is an EU citizen or non-EU citizen and wants to apply for citizenship, one has to pay an application fee of €175. It then costs €950 if one is granted citizenship. This compares to somewhere like France, which has an application fee of €55 and Spain which is an application fee of €102. The cost of citizenship is a prohibitor for the many people who have been living here for a long time and who would be able to get citizenship but who will not apply for it because of the simply prohibitive costs we have imposed for no good reason.