I want to ask about the Government's commitment to tackling period poverty and making period products free of charge across all educational settings. This Government has made a huge amount of progress when it comes to women's health. Removing VAT on period products was particularly welcome but there is still a lot of work to do to address period poverty in Ireland. A Plan International study found that almost half of girls in Ireland between the ages of 12 and 19 find it difficult to buy sanitary products and to pay for them. In this cost-of-living crisis, some women are having to turn to food banks like the Quarryvale Family Resource Centre in Clondalkin for period products. Organisations like this do fantastic work but they should not have to. Where are we when it comes to tackling period poverty? Can we expect the current period product pilot in educational settings to be rolled out nationwide?

I thank Deputy Higgins for raising this very important issue and for engaging with me on an ongoing basis on it. The short answer is "Yes". We can expect that. The pilot has gone very well. We do not want to end up as one of those countries that has more pilots than an airline. When something actually works we should embed it and roll it out. We now provide these free period products across higher education. We have started a pilot in further education and it is my intention for that to be rolled out, subject to the budget. I believe we can make great progress in this area.