Free period products will uphold dignity, MHK says

The MHK who has taken the first steps to make period products available for free in public facilities across the Isle of Man has said it would help "uphold comfort, hygiene and dignity" and ensure they were seen as "essential items, not luxuries".

Douglas East's Joney Faragher was given leave to introduce a private member's bill in the House of Keys on Tuesday.

The Period Products Free Provision Bill is based on similar legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

She told fellow MHKs when someone was "caught short without products, it's the same as finding no toilet paper - distressing, undignified, and avoidable - [and] this bill ensures no-one faces that".

"We already provide toilet paper and soap in public facilities, because they meet a natural need and uphold comfort, hygiene and dignity [and] period products are no different," she added.

Faragher first brought the proposal to the house last year, and since then she has worked with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Office to "refine the bill's details".

"This bill seeks to establish a lasting, government-backed framework, recognising period products as essential items, not luxuries," she said.

In 2021, the Period Products Free Provision Bill - covering England - was brought to the House of Lords as a private member's bill, and is now at the second reading stage.

While leave to introduce was supported in the chamber, with 21 for and two against, a number of concerns were raised about the cost and time implications of the bill.

Douglas Central MHK Ann Corlett said adding the bill to the legislative programme less than a year before a general election was "a risk".

Onchan member Julie Edge said she shared concerns about timing and added that she was unsure about supporting it "without knowing the financial impact on every taxpayer on the Isle of Man".

"I'm very concerned about bringing a blanket scheme into the island without understanding what the blanket cost is going to be," she said.

In response, Faragher said the government was "looking to meet this within existing budgets, but that detail has yet to be finalised".

While final costs had not yet been forecast, she stressed it was "a fairly simple bill with a fairly simple aim" that had been "rolled out successfully in surrounding jurisdictions".

The bill would create "parity with our neighbouring jurisdictions," she added.

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