Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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2642.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of introducing a period poverty fund in every higher education institute to allow period products to be distributed to students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33121/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to “provide a range of free, adequate, safe, and suitable period products in all educational publicly funded settings (including schools, colleges and HEIs), to ensure that no students are disadvantaged in their education by period poverty." Included in those recommendations was the need to develop a co-ordinated approach to the procurement of period products.

My Department and the Department of Health, worked collaboratively on the development of a drawdown contract for the provision of period products in education establishments and other public institutions.

I was pleased to announce recently that my Department secured funding of €500,000 in Budget 2024 for Period Dignity initiatives. The funding of €250,000 to ETBs and €250,000 to publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) aims to deliver free and sustainable period products for students.

This funding will allow my Department to further enhance work in this important area and build on previous initiatives to ensure that no students are disadvantaged in their education by period indignity.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.