After a two-year campaign by pupils, free period products are available in the bathrooms of one Kilkenny school.
The student council at Loreto Secondary School said the provision of free tampons and pads was a way "to destigmatise periods and to reduce the impact of period poverty".
Period poverty is when someone cannot afford, or access, suitable period products.
"A period can happen at any time and it's really awkward to ask someone about it, especially in the middle of class," student council chairperson Medha Trehan, 16, said.
"We do provide period products in the office, but a lot of junior students especially can be shy and not want to go and ask."
As part of their campaign, student council members surveyed other pupils and found that 96% of students wanted to see free period products available in the school bathrooms.
After conversations with school management, they were granted permission to put a selection of tampons and pads in four of the school bathrooms.
"We asked for everyone’s cooperation and not to misuse it because that was something our management was concerned about," Medha said.
"We haven’t seen any misuse or abuse of the products and have been getting lots of positive feedback so far."
Saoirse Teehan, 16, is also a member of the student council.
She says she has noticed more conversations about periods taking place among her classmates as a result of their campaign.
"I feel happy we managed to get it in, it’s being used more than I thought it would be. The option of going to the office wasn’t being used very often, but now we are refilling every two days and they will nearly be empty when we do, so it’s more necessary than we even thought.
"You might think it’s a nice thing to have, but it’s something people need, they need tampons. They can be viewed as a luxury item but they’re very necessary, you wouldn’t expect to go into a bathroom without toilet roll, it’s the same thing."
In 2021, the Period Poverty in Ireland report said that national data regarding consistent poverty rates would suggest that approximately 53,000 - 85,000 women and girls may be at risk of period poverty.
The Government has committed to providing a range of free period products in all educational publicly-funded settings.
A Department of Education spokesperson said that talks are under way to determine "how best these commitments will be taken forward in the context of schools".
However, the Loreto students did not want to wait for an official roll-out.
"It is a thing the Government are talking about and that’s where it needs to go," Saoirse said.
"I don’t know when that’s going to happen. It's not something people are saying will happen very soon, so we did feel like we had to do something ourselves now."
As part of a four-week trial, the pupils are keeping track of product usage so they can inform school management of preferences of product type and the costs involved.
