Council plan to pilot new ‘period poverty’ project

A FINE GAEL councillor has called on the county council to proactively engage with retail supermarkets in the county and collaborate with them to facilitate the provision of free, adequate, safe and suitable sanitary products at all public buildings in the county to relieve what she termed “period poverty”.

Yemi Adenuga called for action on a motion she had tabled at council level a year ago. A fresh motion she put down at the May meeting of the council was seconded by party colleague Noel French.

Council officials said they were in the process of entering into an agreement with the Department of Health as part of the Healthy Ireland Programme to pilot a period poverty project. “The council has identified 10 locations across the county which will meet the pilot scheme criteria, including libraries, civic offices and a resource centre,” they said.

Cllr Adenuga said it appeared that the council was depending on the Department of Health to get this done. She said that companies like Lidl had launched a period poverty initiative offering free period products in partnership with organisations caring for the homeless. This was introduced for women and girls across the country who were affected by poverty in April last year.

She believed the council should write to the likes of those companies and ask for their support for this county for this initiative so that the county would not be dependent solely on the department. She said the project proposed by the county council was “only a private”. What would happen if the pilot was not progressed into a permanent programme, she asked.

“I believe we have an opportunity here to be proactive in our response to supporting our women and our girls who are affected by period poverty.”

Cllr French said the council was “behind the curve” on this issue and added that a similar scheme had ben in operation in Scotland for the last two years.

Independent Cllr Gillian Toole she supported the intention of Cllr Adenuga’s motion but said that the council should engage with Proctor and Gamble in Kildare because they were the brand-leading manufacturer of this kind of product but also manufactured under licence for other retailers.

The council agreed to engage with retailers and manufacturers on the issue.