The issue of period poverty is back in the headlines after supermarket chain Lidl this week announced it is to make period products free in its stores across the country.

The products will be redeemable via a monthly coupon available on smartphones. And the retailer will also donate quarterly to the Simon Community so that that people without access to the store’s app can avail of the service.

The move makes Lidl the first major retailer in the world to offer the products free of charge, in what appears to be a significant step in addressing period poverty.

The British Trades Union Congress (TUC) has highlighted the high cost of period products. Its women’s equality policy officer Sian Elliot said menstruation was treated as a private matter, despite the fact that it affects half the world’s population.

“The financial burden of having a period is felt acutely by the most vulnerable. Women struggling to make ends meet in low-paid, precarious work. Girls living in low income households. Asylum seekers, refugees and homeless people. No one should be excluded from participating in education, work or society because of their period,” she said.

Recent research has shown that 46% of women in Ireland have had problems accessing or affording period products, while some 41% reported missing work or school due to their period. An astonishing 73% of respondents said they’d used period products for longer than advised.

Fórsa equality officer Geraldine O’Brien welcomed Lidl’s intervention, but said people shouldn’t have to rely on private corporations to provide what should be a public service.

“As well as the promise of practical help, this advances the conversation and creates awareness of an issue that affects millions of women. But we need a guaranteed, widely-available, and publicly-provided programme to ensure that period poverty is addressed now and into the future,” she said.

Geraldine also pointed out that Lidl refuses to allow their workers to be represented by trade unions. “If it wants to be seen as a fully progressive company, Lidl must engage in collective bargaining with workers through their chosen trade unions,” she said.

In November 2020 Scotland became the first country in the world to provide free and universal access to period products after a four-year campaign, this has seen fundamental shift to the public this discourse around menstruation in that country.

"While we are someway behind Scotland, we welcome the fact that there are currently two period justice bills making their way through the Oireachtas," said Geraldine.

The opposition Period Products (Free Provisions) Bill would require period products to be available in all public service buildings including schools and education institutions. It would also oblige the health minister to run an information campaign on the initiative.

Senator Rebecca Moynihan who tabled the opposition bill said her public consultation on the topic had found nearly half of women experienced problems accessing or affording period products while 60% faced increased difficulties accessing these items during the pandemic.

A separate Government bill was introduced some time later. It would require the health department to introduce a free period products scheme.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to provide a range of period products in all publicly-funded educational settings.

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