Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 March 2021
735. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions his Department is taking to implement the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy 2018-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17516/21]
View answerThe LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy was published in 2018 and it is a world first, action-oriented mission to ensure all LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included. This Strategy remains a key commitment for my Department as part of the 2020 Programme for Government. The Strategy also plays an important part to achieve the Government's broader commitment to continue to strive for the full inclusion of LGBTI+ people in Irish society. The implementation of the Strategy is supported by its partner strategy, the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019-2021.
The mission of the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy is that all LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included. Three strategic goals were identified to support the achievement of the LGBTI+NYS mission:
- Goal 1: create a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for LGBTI+ young people
- Goal 2: improve the mental, physical and sexual health and wellbeing of the entire LGBTI+ community
- Goal 3: develop research and data environment to better understand the lives of LGBTI+ young people
These goals cascade down into 15 Objectives and 59 actions, involving collaboration between Government Departments, Agencies and sectors. The Goals are aligned to the five national outcomes of the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People, 2014-2020 (BOBF) and governance and implementation of LGBTI+NYS sits within the comprehensive Framework for the implementation of BOBF, as one of its constituent strategies. Implementation of the LGBTI+NYS is supported within the BOBF Framework by the LGBTI+ Youth Forum, which involves young people in implementing the strategy, an annual implementation forum and the appointment of Olivia McEvoy to the Oversight Committee of the BOBF Advisory Council specifically to represent LGBTI+NYS.
In October 2019 the First Report on the Implementation of the National LGBTI+ Youth Strategy 2018 – 2020 was published, which delineated the implementation of each Goal, Objective and Action up to the 4th quarter of 2019. This report, available on the Gov.ie website, shows that, by 2019, 56 of the 59 actions had either already been started (46) or had reported a plan for carrying out the action (10). For the remaining 3 actions, 2 actions had not been reported on and 1 action was under review.
The actions initiated in the first year of implementation focused on the lives of LGBTI+ young people across a range of sectors, particularly in education, health, and safe and inclusive spaces. Since the publication of the First Implementation Report actions from the Strategy have continued to be implemented across Government and the reporting cycle for 2019 through to the end of the Strategy will begin in the coming months.
In 2020, my Department continued to implement commitments in the Strategy, and to move forward with cross-Government leadership and coordination of the Strategy. Actions in this year continued to focus on capacity building and ensuring services provision, with an emphasis on rural areas. Due to the Covid pandemic, I extended the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy into 2021 to ensure implementation of all outstanding actions. The current 2021 priority actions for my Department include:
- LGBTI+ Youth Forum: Delivering the work programme of the LGBTI+ Youth Forum to support implementation of the strategy. The youth forum have continued to meet online over the public health emergency and have redrafted plans for a number of actions to take account of Covid restrictions.
- Capacity Building: A new scheme with a focus on Family Support and Youth Service provision at local level was recently launched in partnership with Tusla.
- LGBTI+ Youth Leadership Programme: The LGBTI+ Youth Leadership Programme was announced in early March 2021, to be delivered by Foróige in collaboration with BeLonG To, and participants have now been recruited. Due to the high level of applications to participate in this programme the Department have accommodated extra places for young people.
- Live Out Loud: Celebrating LGBTI+ Youth: Plans for a biennial national event to publically celebrate LGBTI+ young people have been reconfigured to accommodate public health restrictions. These plans were developed by the LGBTI+ Youth Forum. An online celebration campaign, Live Out Loud, was launched in October 2020 to culminate in a finale event to coincide with Pride 2021. Submissions from LGBTI+ young people, as well as youth, cultural, educational and sports bodies show how LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included across culture, society and sport.
- LGBTI+ Welcome Sticker: The roll-out of the LGBTI+ Welcome Sticker as part of the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019-2021 is being reconfigured to accommodate Covid 19 restrictions.
- LGBTI+ Youth in Ireland and across Europe: A two-phased Landscape and Research Gap Analysis was commissioned from researchers in the Health Promotion Research Centre in NUIG. The report on this research has been peer reviewed and will be published in the coming months. A policy seminars will be held to complete an LGBTI+ research needs analysis based on the research gaps identified.
In the later part of 2021 I intend to publish a Final Report on implementation of the strategy.
