Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for attending. I note the press release issued by the half of the Department to which he is referenced. The press release refers to the launching of the Period Poverty in Ireland report. It is timely, wise and pragmatic - whatever we like to call it - that it should be today given what we have on the agenda.

I wish to acknowledge some important points that need to be looked at and addressed. It is positive and welcome. I thank Senators Clifford-Lee and O'Loughlin for using their Private Members' time for this important issue. It is an important issue. It is important that we have engagement and a conversation.

While I have heard people talking about this being a matter for women and girls - and it is - it is also a matter for men. We have male teachers in our schools. I heard a story from a mother of someone who works here. She told me today that her 11 year old was in school last year. The gym teacher blew a whistle and called to two of the students and said they were out. The reason was they were having their periods. The humiliation and the stigma they felt were acute. Considerable learning is needed and conversations need to be had.

I wish to acknowledge the work of Senator Moynihan of the Labour Party. She has done a good deal of work on this issue in the past two years. She was the champion of this in local government and in Dublin City Council especially.

The two Bills are considerably different in size and content. Senator Clifford-Lee talked about accepting or rejecting the Bill. There is a middle ground. There is accepting the Bill, rejecting the Bill and, more important, amending the Bill. The Bill will need polishing up - we all accept that. We need to bring more to the Bill. It is right to point out that no one owns this tranche of important work. We all need to bring our experiences and stories as well as the stories of other people's experiences to this debate. I welcome that and I believe it is an important point and one that needs to be made.

For too many people and for too long menstruation has been a hidden topic dealt with in silence, rarely spoken about and then only in female company. Menstruation is the most natural thing in the world. That is a simple sentence and I do not understand why that somehow has not been got out, because it is really important. It is hard to believe that the stigma of shame still exists around the natural female bodily function of menstruation in some families.Remember that in some families this is an issue. It is not talked about in schools, workplaces or, dare I say it, in care settings. Recently, I spoke to someone whose daughter had a mild disability and was in care. Again, she felt ashamed and got no help or support or the appropriate sanitary care that she required and needed. This is a broader and bigger issue that is important.

Multiple barriers exist, such as the lack of emergency supplies of menstrual products, bins for disposal and simple warm water and soap in some of our schools. People keep speaking about secondary schools. I spoke about the girl of 11. This is not just 12, 13 and 14-year-old girls. Let us be realistic. We are speaking about girls and women. We need the support. They should not feel ashamed or that there is a stigma.

I am very aware of the work that Plan International has done. It was interesting to read in its report some examples of girls whom it spoke to and the feedback in its latest survey. One girl said when she is bleeding she does not go to school. Another said when she first arrived at the training centre they did not have anything and that she felt ashamed to mention what she thought was her problem but that perhaps it was their problem. Another said that when she grew up in care she did not get the assistance, the support or the care required for her severe endometriosis. She felt ashamed and dirty and thought she was going to die. These are real words, real conversation and real stories that young girls have had to tell.

The language in the Plan International report is interesting as it is overwhelmingly negative, and this was commented on in the survey. Words such as "annoying", "inconvenient", "painful", "hurtful" and "uncomfortable" were used. When describing the start of menstruation, words and phrases such as "scared" and "horrible" were used. One person said she had no idea and not a clue what was going on and not a clue what was going to happen. She said she was shocked, confused, embarrassed and unprepared. What does this tell us about our schools and about our families, social services and care services? We need to have a conversation.

There was a mention of Scotland. I am on the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and I have had some talks with the Scottish National Party on this issue through a social committee on which I was involved. At the end of the day, I want girls and women to know it is okay to talk about their periods and to have easy access to a safe and, more importantly, an appropriate range of products, and people know what I mean by this. There should be an appropriate range of products suitable to their needs and their choice. Choice is so important.

I thank the proposers of the Bill. I thank everyone who has brought it forward today. We need a broader conversation, and what is more important is that it is not all about schools. It is about workplaces. It is about this workplace and it is today. Go to the bathrooms and see what is on offer. This is the challenge. If we start here, within weeks we will see progress. We do not need legislation to tell us to put in place facilities for women or girls visiting here with their mothers or guardians. We start here and we roll out the appropriate sanitary requirements that girls and women need, and we end the taboo and speak about what is the most natural thing in the world.