The IFPA youth group, the Adolescent Confidential Telephone Service and sexual health activism in Ireland, c.1984-90

In October 1984 the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) established a youth group of volunteers aged 16-20. One of the group’s main initiatives was a sexual health phoneline for young people called the Adolescent Confidential Telephone Service (ACTS). Using oral history interviews and archival sources such as the ACTS logbook, this article explores the motivations of the young activists involved in the ACTS and what the operation of and responses to it reveal about the wider social climate in relation to sexual health. Finally, it examines the emotional labour involved in sexual health activism, showing how this was often gendered.