Today, a young Waterford woman will make history as she takes over the Taoiseach’s office to mark International Day of the Girl 2021.

European studies student Mairéad Butler (19) is a member of Plan International Ireland’s Youth Advisory Panel (YAP).

She will take over the office of Taoiseach Micheál Martin this afternoon — an office which has never been held by a woman. Speaking ahead of the Girls Takeover event, Mairéad said:

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to ‘take over’ Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s office today. To be frank, it’s not good enough in 2021 to say that no woman has ever held the office of Taoiseach — I hope girls across the country will see this and be able to envision themselves in this office one day!”

“The reality is that when young people are not armed with the right info on sexual and reproductive health, girls and young women are at particular risk of being subjected to sexual and gender-based violence and early pregnancy. We are adding our voice to those who have been calling for reform of the RSE curriculum for years now and are also asking for peer-led education and a centralised resource to be made available.”

Launching today, the KnoWhere To Go report found that 85 per cent of over 500 young people surveyed had encountered sexual health misinformation.

Read more about Máiread and today's takeover here.