Budget allocates €500,000 for distribution of free menstrual products in schools

Government will be making good on a pledge to distribute free menstrual products in schools with the budget allocating €500,000 for this exercise.

In April, Reforms Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg announced the start of a pilot project in the current scholastic year for the distribution of menstrual products to school girls.

She had said the rollout would proceed in all schools nationwide after the initial testing phase.

Budget 2024 allocates half-a-million euros for this measure but refrains from cutting the VAT rate on menstrual products. The latter was also a pledge made by the Labour government.

Menstrual products are charged at 18% VAT with the government assessing the possibility of cutting the rate to its lowest possible.