Group calls for Government to fund free condoms

Condoms should be made freely available in places where young people congregate, the Dublin Aids Alliance (DAA) said today.

In a statement on Irish Aids Day, the agency said the Government needed to put sexual health on the political agenda and called for the development of a National Sexual Health Strategy.

As part of the strategy, the DAA believes the Government should fund a scheme to make condoms available to young people where they gather.

While welcoming the figures released yesterday by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPCC) which showed a 11 per cent decrease of new HIV cases on last year, the DAA warned people not to be complacent about Aids.

"356 people tested HIV positive in 2004 and that is too many people succumbing to an illness that can be prevented, so there is still no room for complacency about HIV," the Executive Director of the DAA, Ann Nolan, said.

The DAA also said there had been a 174 per cent increase in reported Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) in Ireland between 1994 and 2003 with 73 per cent of those reported among people below the age of thirty.

"Given the fact that sexually transmitted HIV accounted for 67 per cent of all cases reported in 2004 and 74 per cent of cases in the previous year, there is a pressing need for Government to act to improve sexual health outcomes for everybody in Ireland," Ms Nolan added.

As part of Irish Aids Day the DAA has organised a series of activites to mark the day. Red ribbons will be on sale throughout the capital and there will be a march this afternoon from Parnell Square to the Dail. Thousands of condoms will be handed out on the march.

Labour Party spokeswoman on Health, Liz McManus, also called on the Government to create greater public interest in the dangers of HIV infection and sexual health.

"The dangers of HIV/Aids were well publicised during the 1980s and 90s, but we cannot allow ourselves to think that the problem has gone away," Ms McManus said.