Clare County Council's Free Period Products Campaign to Support Period Poverty

Clare Local Authority provides ‘Free Period Products’ as part of the Department of Health Period Poverty Initiative.

Healthy Clare was once again successful in 2024 in securing €15,000 funding from the Department of Heath (DoH) to continue rolling out the Local Authority (LA) ‘Free Period Products’ initiative as part of the DoH Period Poverty Initiative. The provision of period products in public buildings is a recommendation in the draft ‘Period Poverty in Ireland’ report by the National Strategy for Women and Girls Committee. As part of the initiative, Free Period Products (i.e. tampons and period pads) are available in participating Local Authority owned and publicly accessible buildings, like Clare Libraries, Clare Local Authority owned Leisure Facilities and each Municipal District Office in Clare. If you are experiencing Period Poverty we encourage you to pop into one of the locations and take what you need.

The aim of the Local Authority’s ‘Free Period Products’ project in Clare is to;

(1) Destigmatize periods

(2) Combat period poverty in the county, and

(3) De-Gendering periods

Period poverty in Ireland was initially brought into focus in the Period Poverty in Ireland Discussion paper, 2017-2020. The discussion paper put forward findings from a Plan International Survey of 1,100 teenage girls, aged 12-19. The survey found that ‘approximately 50% of girls surveyed reported occasionally experiencing period poverty, with 10% using unsuitable products as a result of cost barriers. Seventy percent of respondents reported a need for pain relief, while 61% of those surveyed reported absence from school on occasion as a result of their period’. (pg. 16)

Subsequent research undertaken as part of the Healthy Ireland Survey, 2022, has found that 24% of women have experienced at least one indicator of period poverty, with rates amongst those aged 15-25 reaching 35%. Meanwhile, 51% report being unable to take part in activities of daily living on occasion, as a result of period symptoms. During the same year, a Health Behaviours in School Age Children (HBSC) study noted that 10% of schoolgirls who have periods have experienced period poverty and that 60% have missed school on occasion because of period symptoms.

The Free Period Poverty Initiative is supported by Clare County Council Local Community Development Committee, Clare Libraries, Active Ennis, Comhairle Na nOg and Clare County Councils Human Resource Department.

Note: A limited budget is available for this campaign in 2024 and unfortunately once supplies are gone an evaluation will take place to determine the viability of future support of the project by the Department of Health.

Please contact healthyclare@clarecoco.ie for additional information or queries on the LA Free Period Products campaign.