Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2022
592. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 156 of 6 July 2022, the 17 actions from the National LGBTI+ Strategy that have been completed to date in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38868/22]
View answerThe National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy contains 108 actions, This is an all of Government strategy. Relevant Departments have reported that 17 actions have been completed. Work is ongoing on implementation of the remaining actions. The overall implementation of the strategy was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, there were significant obstacles to the achievement of many of the actions under the "Visible and included" and "Healthy" pillars. I extended the lifetime of the strategy until the end of this year and it will be evaluated thereafter. My officials are also reviewing the method of reporting on actions to ensure accuracy and consistency.
List of completed actions as reported by relevant Departments
|
Action number* |
Outcome |
Action |
Department |
Progress made |
|
|
1 |
2.5 |
Irish workplaces are inclusive of LGBT+ people and support them in bringing their ‘authentic selves to work. |
Utilise the Corporate Social Responsibility Stakeholder Forum to advance LGBTI+ workplace inclusion amongst private sector employers, and to raise awareness of the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy through the available Corporate Social Responsibility channels. |
Department Enterprise Trade and Employment |
The National Plan on CSR was concluded in 2020 and due to COVID-19 prioritisation there is no capacity on the CSR side to engage on this agenda at this point. |
|
2 |
2.10 |
Irish workplaces are inclusive of LGBT+ people and support them in bringing their ‘authentic selves to work. |
To further build LGBTI+ awareness and inclusive practices amongst SMEs and micro enterprises, develop LGBTI+ information events and/or learning modules for inclusion in LEO and Enterprise Ireland Diversity & Inclusion training programmes. |
Department Enterprise Trade and Employment |
Enterprise Ireland (Jonathan McMillan) presented the EI D&I strategy to the Committee on 20th Oct. 2021, outlining how LGBTI+ awareness and inclusive practices are being promoted. |
|
3 |
6.2 |
Community supports are more widely available to LGBT+ people |
Increase funding for LGBTI+ community services to ensure existing LGBTI+ services are sustainable and that funding is available to develop additional services, based on the gaps identified in the mapping exercise. |
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth |
Call for Funding launched July and has closed for applications. Assessment process is well advanced and successful applicants will be notified shortly. 2022 Funding Call launched on 22 June 2022. |
|
4 |
9.1 |
LGBT+ people are aware of the supports and redress mechanism available to them where discrimination has occurred |
Through an information campaign, raise awareness of the role of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in dealing with complaints of discrimination under the Equal Status Acts and the Employment Equality Acts. |
Department Enterprise Trade and Employment |
WRC engaged with LGBTI+ Advocacy Groups resulting in some of their specifically designed content being shared via social media platforms in December 2021 and March 2022. Further engagement and outreach are also planned. The WRC has also conducted training of call centre staff on issues relative to this action. |
|
5 |
9.2 |
LGBT+ people are aware of the supports and redress mechanism available to them where discrimination has occurred |
Provide tailored legal advice and advocacy to LGBTI+ people via a specialised legal advice clinic |
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth |
FLAC Legal Advice Clinic Launched in May 2022, Funded by DCEDIY |
|
6 |
11.1 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law. |
Commence Parts 2 & 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. |
Department of Health |
Parts 2 & 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 were commenced on May 4th, 2020 |
|
7 |
11.2 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law |
Commence Rules of Court to allow a declaration of parentage under section 21 or 22 of the CFR Act Children and Family Relationships Act 201. |
Department of Justice |
The relevant rules that have been signed by the Minister are S.I. 400 of 2020 Circuit Court Rules (Family Law - Donor-Assisted Human Reproduction) 2020 for section 22 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 and S.I. 434 of 2020 District Court Rules (Donor-Assisted Human Reproduction) Rules 2020 for section 21 of the Children and Family Relationships Act. The Circuit Court Rules came into effect on the 9th of October 2020 and the District Court Rules came into effect on the 22nd of October 2020. |
|
8 |
11.3 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law |
Commence outstanding sections of Adoption (Amendment) Act 2017 relating to donor-conceived children. |
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth |
Completed 20th March 2020 |
|
9 |
11.4 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law |
Commence outstanding sections of Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. |
Department of Justice |
The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 has been fully commenced since 4 May 2020. The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (Commencement of Certain Provisions) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 624 of 2019) commenced the remaining provisions of the Act for which the Minister for Justice is responsible with effect from 4 May 2020, except for section 177. Section 177 of the 2015 Act, which provided for the amendment of the Adoptive Leave Act 1995, was not commenced and was repealed by section 3 of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021, with effect from 1 April 2021. |
|
10 |
11.5 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law |
Develop a targeted information campaign for the LGBTI+ community on the provisions contained in the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, and what they mean for same sex parents and those planning parenthood. |
Department of Social Protection |
All the details for re-registering a DAHR birth are here (including link to the application form which has a booklet type intro): How to re-register the birth of a donor-conceived child, www.gov.ie/en/service/64a092-registering-a-birth/#how-to-re-register-the-birth-of-a-donor-conceived-childAdditionally, following discussions LGBT Ireland/FLAC have prepared a booklet, which also contains a section on registrations after 4 May 2020: Parts 2 & 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act (CFRA) 2015, lgbt.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020_CFRA_FAQ-1-1.pdf. The General Register Office (GRO) attended 2 information sessions hosted by LGBTI+. The first was held on Thursday 2nd April 2020, from 19.30 to 21.30. It was held in association with FLAC and was online. A GRO representative was on the panel for a further LGBTI+ Family Rights event held on Monday 17th May 2021 from 19.30 to 21.15. The second seminar was geared towards parents in the west of Ireland. |
|
11 |
11.7 |
Same sex parents are treated equally to opposite sex parents before the law |
Bring forward legislative proposals to provide for adoptive leave and benefit for male same sex adoptive couples. |
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth |
Family leave provisions under the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021 commenced on 1 April 2021 |
|
12 |
12.1 |
Transgender people are supported and administrative processes are streamlined while maintaining a person’s privacy |
Make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings on the review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 and of the conclusions drawn from the findings. |
Department of Social Protection |
Standard 1.1 of the National Quality Standards Framework for homeless services introduced in 2020 provides that that the rights and diversity of each service user are respected and promoted. A key feature of this includes ensuring that service users are treated with dignity and respect, their equality is promoted and the service respects their age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, family status, civil status, race, religious beliefs or as a member of the Traveller Community. |
|
13 |
13.2 |
Supports are provided to those at higher risk of multiple discrimination and double marginalisation including LGBT+ older people, migrants, Travellers, people with disabilities and LGBT+ prisoners. |
Ensure that the rights and diversity of LGBTI+ service users are respected and promoted as part of the National Quality Standards Framework for homeless services. |
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage |
Standard 1.1 of the National Quality Standards Framework for homeless services introduced in 2020 provides that that the rights and diversity of each service user are respected and promoted. A key feature of this includes ensuring that service users are treated with dignity and respect, their equality is promoted and the service respects their age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, family status, civil status, race, religious beliefs or as a member of the Travelling Community. |
|
14 |
17.8 |
The LGBT+ community, particularly the MSM population of Ireland are made aware of the risks of contracting HIV and other STIs and the importance of regular testing. |
Conclude the study of the readiness of public STI clinics to implement pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in line with the Standards for Service Delivery of HIV PrEP to clarify capacity and resource requirements across public STI services in Ireland and inform resource allocation |
Department of Health |
Report published in 2019 www.sexualwellbeing.ie/for-professionals/research/research-reports/ |
|
15 |
21.2 |
Ireland has strong legislation and supports in place to combat hate crime and encourage people to report it. |
Update the Garda Pulse system to include a “Hate Crime” tag and subcategories including sexual orientation and gender identity. |
Department of Justice |
It should be noted that PULSE Release implemented a range of changes to the recording of Motives, including ‘Hate’ related crime / incidents. These changes were based upon the Garda Hate Strategy and were developed in association with Community Relations who are the Business / Process Owners. |
|
16 |
21.3 |
Ireland has strong legislation and supports in place to combat hate crime and encourage people to report it. |
Implement a fully functioning on-line system for reporting Hate-Crime. |
Department of Justice |
Online hate crime reporting tool now available at www.garda.ie/en/reportahatecrime/ |
|
17 |
21.5 |
Ireland has strong legislation and supports in place to combat hate crime and encourage people to report it. |
Commence the publication of statistics for recorded incidents of hate crime. |
Department of Justice |
It should be noted that new measures were introduced as part of PULSE 7.6, deployed in October 2020, which changed the way hate crime figures are recorded. This also introduced the ability to record non-crime hate related incidents. Due to the recording changes, figures from after the PULSE change are not comparable to those recorded previously. A new baseline for hate related incidents is being established in 2021 along with the introduction of training and other measures to improve recording |
*Action number as per National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy
