New scheme to offer free period products in schools and public toilets

One of Ireland’s leading washroom hygiene providers has launched a new period dignity service in Ireland.

A new service will offer a range of free period products and aims to provide easy access in public spaces.

Initial Hygiene, a washroom hygiene, vending and floor mat provider, is working with customers across education, government, commercial office and retail sectors to offer free period products in their bathrooms.

There will be four different dispenser options on offer, including cashless vends and a small compact unit, which could be located within the toilet cubicle at the point of need.

The provider said these solutions aimed to promote inclusive and equitable access to essential hygiene products in public spaces, schools, and workplaces.

Pierce Dargan, principal of Presentation Secondary School in Castleisland, Co Kerry, said the service was helping the school ensure a “hygienic, inclusive and dignified washroom experience” for their students.

“No one who menstruates should be forced to miss school or work because they have their period, and that is why access to free and hygienic period protection for those who need it is so important,” he said.

Initial Hygiene head of marketing Sian Walkling said everyone who menstruated has “the right to period dignity”.

“Creating a welcoming and hygienic washroom is important for any organisation, which is why we believe that sanitary products should be viewed as a ‘washroom essential’, in the same way, soap and toilet paper are,” she said.

It follows the HSE National Social Inclusion Office which initiated a demand-led period dignity pilot scheme in 2022 designated to combat period stigma and ensure the equitable distribution of free period products.

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