Survey: A third of Irish women shun contraception

A third of Irish women do not use any form of contraception.

That's according to a Behaviour and Attitudes survey on behalf of Bayer Healthcare.

The study also found just over a quarter of women use condoms, with the same figure relying on the pill.

The figures also showed that in the last two years, one in six women surveyed about 17% had accessed emergency contraception, with 5% accessing it more than once.

In spite of this, 34% of women in Ireland said that accessing emergency contraception did not prompt them to look at their contraception needs in a long-term way.

Dr Shirley McQuade from the Dublin Well Woman Centre said her experience backs up the figures.

“It is surprising that women don’t use contraception, when they obviously need to use contraception.

“Quite a number of them are not, even though they are sexually active and they don’t want to get pregnant,” said Dr McQuade.