VAT on condoms is still too high to be healthy
However, a charge of 13.5% VAT on what is essentially a health promotion device is still too high.
Under EU law, member states are permitted to reduce the rate of VAT on a prescribed list of goods and services. The British government has reduced VAT on condoms from 17.5% to 5%.
Small wonder that condoms in Ireland are the most expensive in Europe. Condom manufacturers must also be encouraged to reduce their profits from the sale of their products in Ireland.
According to UNAIDS, “condom use is a critical element in a comprehensive, effective and sustainable approach to HIV prevention”.
In November 2007, Health Minister Mary Harney said “in the context of promoting good practice we have to examine how the health and tax system can work together to encourage good behaviour”. She stressed the importance of promoting condom use among young people. The Catholic Communications Office says that reducing VAT on condoms is “effectively promoting their widespread use” and that “outside of marriage the use of condoms encourages sexual activity”.
Yet according to a meta-analysis of 174 studies published in the March 2006 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, condoms for HIV prevention do not lead to earlier sex, more sex or more partners. The study also concluded that including information on condoms alongside motivational and behavioural components is more likely to have a positive effect on reducing frequency of sexual activity than interventions which do not include all three components.
In Ireland we have increasing sexually transmitted infections and we need to maintain the steady decline in teenage pregnancies.
National research commissioned by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the Department of Health points to the earlier sexual debut of young people, particularly those from poorer backgrounds.
We need to address the realities of life in Ireland by facing up to internationally accepted best practice of sexual health promotion by supporting condom use and enhancing sex education. This is not the same as promoting promiscuity. Good practice promotes delay, respect and responsibility in sexual practices.
It also aims to bring about an end to the shame, blame and isolation which can arise from the promotion of sex as sinful.
Perhaps Finance Minister Brian Cowen could now be persuaded to further reduce VAT on condoms and increase funding on sexual health promotion aimed at reducing the rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections in Ireland.
Deirdre Seery
Executive Director
The Sexual Health Centre
16 Peters Street
Cork
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