Mr. Philip Crosby:

I thank the committee for the invitation to today's meeting to discuss consent in the third level institutions. As committee members are aware, all publicly funded third level institutions provide a range of student support services, including counselling and health services to their students. In conjunction with these services, the third level institutions support the student unions in their campaigns and initiatives on sexual health for students. In recent years a number of third level institutions have established sexual consent programmes and workshops for their students. These programmes and workshops have a significant positive impact on students. An example of the programmes include NUI Galway's SMART consent workshops, which were developed from a recognition of positive health promotion, as well as an awareness of sexual violence. NUI Galway has assisted in the rolling out of the workshops in a number of other higher education institutions. University College Cork's bystander intervention is a six-workshop module on bystander intervention for first year students in its law, nursing and applied psychology classes.

The student unions are an integral element to the provision of such information to the student population in the higher education institutions. Every year the USI holds its sexual health and guidance week in the higher education institutions throughout the country. The issue of consent has been a significant feature of its recent campaigns. I also acknowledge the significant work being done by the National Women's Council of Ireland under its ending sexual harassment and violence in third level education, ESHTE, project. The project aims to tackle sexual violence and harassment in third level institutions. The NWCI's It Stops Now website is an invaluable resource in this area.

The Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, has stated that providing excellence in education depends on providing a safe learning environment, free from sexual harassment, assault and the fear or threat of it. In August 2018 the Minister of State launched the latest report of NUI Galway's SMART consent team, on sexual consent among third level students. On 4 October 2018, the Minister of State brought together representatives from the higher education institutions, student unions and other stakeholders for a meeting on consent and tackling sexual violence in third level education. The Minister of State is currently examining the issues that were discussed at the meeting, and will shortly be establishing a working group to devise a toolkit of appropriate initiatives and interventions that will be made available to the higher education institutions to deploy within their institutions. I hope I have been of assistance to the work of the committee. I am happy to answer questions and provide the committee with any additional information it may require.