Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Tá an ceart ag gach bean agus ag gach fear go gcaithfear leo le dínit agus le meas. Tá timpeallacht tuillte ag gach oibrí, ina gcaitear leo le dínit agus le meas agus nach ndéantar leithcheal orthu, is cuma faoin gcomhlacht ina n-oibríonn siad nó lena bhfuil siad ar conradh. Creidim go n-aontódh sibh go léir leis sin. Every woman and every man has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. All workers, regardless of the company they work for or who they are contracted to, deserve an environment where they are treated with dignity and respect and are not subjected to discrimination. I believe all the members would agree with that. Ensuring a safe and respectful working environment for everyone working in the arts and in the creative industries is one of the most important issues I have engaged with as Minister. Every person has the right to dignity in the workplace. Damaging behaviours such as bullying, harassment and victimisation will not be tolerated across this sector.

Over the past number of years, report after report points to unacceptable behaviours in the arts and creative sector right across the spectrum from inappropriate language and insults to sexual assault and violence.

The fact that similar behaviours have emerged in other sectors is cold comfort and I believe it is my responsibility, as Minister with responsibility for culture and the arts, to take action to ensure that such behaviours in the creative sectors are consigned to history.

In this important area of work, my Department has partnered with the Irish Theatre Institute, ITI. I am providing funding to the ITI which to date has amounted to €400,000. The ITI has been working in this area since 2017 to undertake extensive research and analysis, assist in the drafting of that, which will respond directly to the key issues, and work with my Department to implement those policies in an effective way that will, I hope, make a real and lasting difference to anyone working in this sector. Last year, the ITI undertook a landmark survey of the arts and culture sector, the results of which led to the launch of the Speak Up: A Call for Change report in November, with five important recommendations. Each of the five recommendations has a range of actions, all of which have been progressed by my Department, in partnership with the ITI and in collaboration with agencies, Screen Ireland and the Arts Council. The recommendations include short-term actions, practical initiatives and the longer term challenge of changing mindsets, behaviours and culture.

Overall, in working through these recommendations and associated actions, I consider that there must be a fundamental change at a systemic level, which requires a change across society. In helping to achieve this, a comprehensive awareness campaign is under way in combination with practical initiatives, such as bystander training, to effectively tackle sexual and gender-based negative behaviours on the ground.

For the past year and a half, I have funded Minding Creative Minds to provide a range of counselling and advisory services to the creative sector, free of charge. Some €530,000 has been allocated to date for this very valuable service and I will continue to fund this into the future. The Minding Creative Minds service is a 24-7 confidential mental health and well-being support programme for the Irish creative community and is delivered by Spectrum Life. Over the past six months, my officials have been working closely with Minding Creative Minds to expand its existing services and to incorporate some of the recommendations contained in the report, namely, offering specialised support for victims. Minding Creative Minds is in the process of road-testing these additional services to ensure that practices are up to the necessary standard. I expect this work will be completed shortly and that I will be in a position to make announcements soon. It is very important, in such a sensitive area, that the services are adequately tested before they are rolled out to the public as each and every case may represent a traumatised individual. Appropriate consideration for the victims of these damaging behaviours is vital.

Resourcing availability of information is another key focus of the work under way and the Irish Theatre Institute has been working on developing a new website which will incorporate elements of all five recommendations, and will have relevant resources and information available, including sectoral codes of behaviour, policy documents and other toolkits for artists and arts organisations. It will also have an online register whereby organisations can formally sign up to the code of behaviour and publicly declare their commitment to its implementation. This should help to build awareness and transparency across the sector.

Screen Ireland is collaborating with the Arts Council to develop bystander intervention training, which should be ready to roll out next month. Screen Ireland is also developing a suite of dedicated online training tools for arts organisations, artists and arts workers. These include self-led training, free of charge, in bullying and harassment and in unconscious bias. There will be additional bespoke elements for particular areas, for example, intimacy co-ordination for stage and screen. It is intended that these will be self-led. It is planned that the basic self-led modules, such as bullying and harassment, will ultimately become compulsory for workers in all organisations receiving grant funding from the Arts Council and Screen Ireland. The Arts Council and Screen Ireland are also introducing a new condition of funding for all recipients of grant funding whereby they must confirm that they have taken all necessary actions over complaints of poor behaviour on behalf of a board member or staff members.

In the meantime, I continue to engage with stakeholders and all interested groups, as do officials in my Department. I have had many meetings that have been helpful to me and, in particular, I recall Fair Plé telling me that I was the first Minister to engage with it. Most recently, I had a very constructive meeting with members of Safe Arts of Ireland, some of whom gave evidence to this committee. I assured them that I would continue work to implement Speak Up: A Call for Change and would keep them updated in the coming weeks and months.

I am pleased that the committee has taken a strong interest in this issue and am happy to take questions from members. Tá dul chun cinn maith déanta again. Tús maith leath na hoibre ach tá bóthar fada le siubhal againn fós. Tá súil agam go mbeidh muid ag taisteal le chéile. We have made good progress but we still have a long road to travel. I hope we will do this together.