Gender neutral toilets in schools could lead to girls avoiding the restrooms or taking days off, according to a women’s group.

Laoise Uí Aodha de Brún of the grassroots human rights and advocacy group, ‘The Countess Didn’t Fight For This’ was reacting to Department of Education guidelines for new schools and retrofitting of older schools to install mixed sex toilets in secondary schools.

She told Liveline Thursday that gender neutral toilets could lead to girls not going to school due to “period shaming” or getting a UTI from holding their pee.

“Even in a single sex school I would be very nervous as a teenage girl having my period. This is not a progressive move on the Department of Education”.

“I believe it would impact on the privacy, the dignity and the safety of school children.”

Presenter Joe Duffy was forced to apologise to her on air after another contributor launched a string of insults and slurs at her.

Meanwhile, a radical feminist group has accused the Department of depriving school girls of a “sex-based right”.

Radicailín issued a statement saying: “The reason we have single sex spaces is to protect the privacy and safety of women and girls. The new School Design Guide proposals will deprive Ireland’s school girls of this sex-based right.”