 Ireland has seen a rise in sexually transmitted diseases such as haystrivy, syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes and chlamydia in 2017. Chlamydia remains Ireland's dominant STI, with high levels of herpes and gonorrhea also being confirmed. We spoke to a welfare and equality officer, Podge Henry, on what students can do to take care of their sexual health. So if you look at your sexual health and say it's safe, obviously the first part of the policy is contraception and occasional sexual activity and that's what the SCU is here for. So we have free condoms, we have group workings, we have dental dams and then also we have provided free STI checks for all students on campus in both Glass Nevin and St Pat's and in order to get a free STI check you literally just have to go into the health centre and book one and they're very fast, they're two minutes, it's only a swab, there's no, it's only a swab and since last year we've actually been able to secure more STI checks so last year there would have been a certain time towards end of semester one and RS semester two whereas this year it was all academic year and there's actually been a rejuice in positive STIs since last year so hopefully we'd like to say that we've kind of contributed to that by raising awareness. 2017 saw 6,975 cases of STIs which is a 13.8% increase over 2015. Public health experts warned that early detection is key to effective treatment. According to these experts Tinder, Grinder and other dating apps has led to the rise in the trend. syphilis which was once reduced to minimal levels has witnessed a worrying reemergence since 2011. Helen O'Neill DCU TV News