The Irish Family Planning Association celebrates 30 years providing counselling and health services.
Marking thirty years of The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) there was a reflection on the campaign for the acceptance of contraception.
30 years of contraceptive counselling and well-woman health services.
Access to contraceptives was a long struggle for the IFPA. There was shock and disgust when Gay Byrne revealed "the dreaded object" on the Late Late Show in 1987. It was the revolutionary women on the contraceptive train between Belfast and Dublin in 1971 who really brought the subject to public attention.
Ailbhe Smith, Director of Women's Studies at University College Dublin, says that the contraceptive train drew attention to the lack of availability of contraception and the total control over women's health and sexuality by church and state.
On display at the celebrations is one of the suitcases used to carry the contraband contraceptives into the Republic of Ireland.
The very notion of smuggling condoms into a country now sounds absolutely crazy.
It was only in 1993 that all legal barriers to the sale of condoms in Ireland were lifted. However, to this day, some chemists refuse to put them on display in their shops.
Tony O'Brien, chief executive of the IFPA, says that now contraception is available, it is important to remember how hard people fought to get that access.
The IFPA continues to promote the use of condoms to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 24 June 1999. The reporter is Sharon Ní Bheoláin.
