Additional funding received to support Period Poverty initiative

Cork County Council’s Library and Arts Service has been approved for an additional grant of €10,000 to support its period poverty initiative. The additional funding, which is provided by the Department of Health, ensures that the service can continue to provide free sanitary products

across its network of 25 branch libraries and 4 mobile libraries.

The pilot project was initiated in response to a 2021 report by the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth which highlighted the prevalence and impact of period poverty in Ireland and acknowledged the potential adverse consequences of period poverty, which can include exclusion from activities of daily living during menstruation and physical and mental impacts from both exclusion and the use of unsuitable period products.

The council initiative was launched in autumn 2022, following a successful application to the department to roll out the pilot programme providing free sanitary products in library branches. Dispensing units were installed where publicly accessed toilets were available, while packs have been made available in mobile libraries and branches without public toilets.

Period Poverty encompasses not only a basic need for products but also wider issues around menstrual health literacy; projects like this one which work to promote health literacy and remove stigma contribute to the wider conversation. Libraries, as free, accessible, and safe spaces for all, are well positioned to offer this free service in Cork county.