Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
360. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will provide an update on the recommendation from a report (details supplied) on the creation of the role of sexual misconduct prevention and response managers in further and higher education institutions and for that work to be supported full-time by a national and or sectoral representative and a panel of trained investigators. [5716/22]
View answerTackling sexual violence and harassment in our tertiary education system is and will remain, a key policy focus for me and my Department.
One of the key outputs from the project referred to by the Deputy was a report to the technological higher education sector, which included sectoral guidance on the implementation of the Framework for Consent in HEIs .
In August 2020, I expanded the remit of the HEA’s Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality to cover all areas of equality, diversity and inclusion. The Centre of Excellence has oversight of the implementation of the Framework for Consent in HEIs and supports ongoing work to implement the Framework through funding initiatives, centralised support and monitoring of annual progress. As part of monitoring requirements, the HEA requires that institutions, in respect of both staff and students, report progress on implementation of the Framework for Consent in HEIs on an annual basis.
All publicly funded HEIs have action plans in place to address this issue and have assigned responsibility to a member of senior leadership, most often in the form of the Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The HEA Centre of Excellence works closely with these stakeholders to both support and monitor progress in our goal to end sexual violence and harassment in higher education institutions. This work includes funding and support of targeted projects, such as the Speak Out anonymous reporting tool that was launched last year.
An expert Advisory Group was established in 2021 to advise my Department and the Higher Education Authority’s Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on policy relating to addressing sexual violence and harassment in Irish higher education institutions. This group of experts provides advice on consent framework implementation and future areas of priority in relation to ending sexual violence and harassment in higher education. The advisory group consists of the independent members of the original task force that developed the framework and other relevant experts and stakeholders. The group is currently developing an implementation plan following the recent publication of reports on student and staff experiences of sexual violence and harassment. The recommendation mentioned by the Deputy will come before the advisory group for consideration as part of its ongoing work in this area.
