College students to receive free condoms

THIRD-LEVEL students are to be given thousands of free condoms as part of a safe sex campaign to combat spiralling infection rates.

The initiative at UCD, DCU, Galway-Mayo IT and Maynooth NUI is aimed at encouraging increased sexual health awareness among young people.

The numbers of reported sexually-transmitted infections have increased hugely in the last decade, with some diseases rising five-fold in a few short years.