Mr. David O'Sullivan:

I thank the Deputy for his question. In February 2020 we produced a very interesting survey on this matter. Some of our members refuse to come out in the workplace for fear of being overlooked for promotion or for fear of not getting a job. They become more comfortable in expressing their sexual identity in their workplaces when they are more secure in their employment. We would probably need to give further consideration to anything else within section 37 of the Employment Equality Act that might need to be amended. It would be heartening for our members to get some statement when they apply for jobs that everybody would be treated equally and that nobody would be disadvantaged in the workplace because of their sexual orientation.

Regarding strategies within schools, in 2011 there was a commitment in the programme for Government at that stage to encourage schools to develop antibullying policies and in particular strategies to combat homophobic bullying to support students. In the survey I mentioned, the majority of our members are aware that schools must implement education and preventative strategy to deal with homophobic bullying. However, 89% said they had not received any training in how to educate about and how to prevent homophobic and transphobic bullying. That is a startling statistic. There is an urgent need to roll out training. More than 80% said they would welcome training in that regard. Our members feel very passionately about ensuring that nobody is bullied because of their sexual orientation in their school environment.