Ms Síona Cahill:

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh, and I thank the committee for having us here today. I am before the committee on behalf of over 374,000 students throughout the island of Ireland. I am here because this is in fact a problem. I am here not because consent is simply the next new gritty issue for the student movement to talk about or because I or the student movement have all the answers, but because the issues arising now represents a problem that is growing. The student movement is not going to stand by, nor have we ever, and do nothing or be silent on the issue. It has to stop now but we need everyone on board to make that a reality, including Oireachtas Members.

The student experience is one highlighted to us by students and their students' unions across the country. The issue around sexual harassment at third level or within and for this age cohort did not start today or yesterday. Students' union welfare officers deal with the problem in their offices week after week. Sexual harassment has often become normalised in a space dominated by being social and sharing more of oneself across multiple online platforms. Photos are screenshotted and saved. They are used to threaten, vilify or hold over. Students and young people are being hurt by this behaviour emotionally and physically. They are subject to assault, and, more often than not, during all of this they tell no one. That is why in 2014, the Union of Students in Ireland led the way in creating and issuing the first survey of its kind in Ireland. One key finding was that 16% of students reported having experienced some form of unwanted sexual experience while in their current educational institution. Notably, only 3% recorded that they had reported these incidents to an official within their institution or to the Garda. Two frequent reasons for not reporting were put forward. First, the students did not believe the incident was serious enough to report. Second, they did not think that what happened to them was in fact a crime. We are not being dramatic when we say this is a serious issue. It is widely understood that students attending third level are in the process of handling a significant transition, one that affects all parts of their lives. It affects academic standards and can result in a distancing from familial supports and parental guidance. It often involves new living or rental conditions and experiences, as well as new social and peer group expectations in terms of socialising and relationships.

The Union of Students in Ireland has led the calls for improved relationships and sexuality education, RSE, before students reach third level. It is the daily experience of our elected officers that students are ill-equipped and do not have a satisfactory level of knowledge around sexual health, well-being and respectful relationships, including understanding the language around consent.

Sexual health awareness has been a key point of USI's plan of work for more than two decades. We welcomed the report of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which indicated that resources needed to be allocated to develop a systematic approach to sexual and reproductive rights in Ireland. Looking at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's, DRCC's, national helpline figures for 2016, the age groups, 18 to 24, and 24 to 29, make up almost 30% of its overall callers.

The USI has identified that there are gaps within the third level system in accessing safe ways to raise concerns and to get an effective remedy for issues arising. There is significant consensus among sectoral stakeholders that consent education is required at third level. There is also broad consensus that consent needs to be mainstreamed into the education of young people and students. We need more than a poster awareness campaign or social media content. Funding must be made available. A second Say Something data research project is required. Consent education must have a sex-positive approach and must also be inclusive of the LGBTI community. It must be student-centred and peer-led in conjunction with professionals. Our staff need to have first responder-style training in order that in the event of disclosures, post consent education, that there is somewhere for a person to go. Significant changes are required to the reporting structures at third level. We believe a designated staff member needs to be appointed in third level colleges. The statistics are clear and there are people behind them. We cannot pretend that it is not our responsibility and we must do something. We must act.