Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 March 2021
752. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps he is taking to address rates of violence and sexual assault experienced by students with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16950/21]
View answerIn August 2020 I wrote to all publicly funded higher education institutions requesting that they develop institutional action plans on tackling sexual violence and harassment, and report to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on their progress on the implementation of the Framework for Consent in HEIs (Safe, Respectful, Supportive and Positive: Ending Sexual Harassment in Irish Higher Education Institutions).
The HEA Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has been working with the higher education institutions and the sectoral representative bodies to support implementation of the Framework for Consent. For instance, the HEA has supported the national, sectoral and local roll out of online consent training and online bystander intervention training, as well as the development of a national Anonymous Reporting Tool for issues of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment. As part of monitoring requirements, the HEA requires that institutions report progress on implementation of the Framework for Consent.
In order to create a robust evidence base for further policy decisions in relation to tackling sexual violence and harassment in HEIs, the HEA is working with stakeholders to develop and commission standardised national surveys of staff and students to monitor their experiences. The HEA has established an expert advisory group to support this work and it is expected that the surveys will shortly be launched.
These surveys will capture information relating to students with disabilities and experiences of sexual violence and harassment.
