Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am really pleased by the progress being made in the sector. I thank the staff and student leaders in the sector for all the work that is taking place on the issue of consent and sexual harassment and ensuring that good reporting tools are in place in this regard. Good work had been done in respect of developing a national framework, but national frameworks are not enough. Institutions must own the framework and they must determine what they are going to do on their campuses to keep their staff and students safe.

For the first time, all institutions in Ireland must have an action plan on tackling sexual harassment, specific to each institution, published on their websites, and they must also report to the HEA on delivery. Some good work is underway in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's city of Galway on the Active* Consent programme. Dr. Pádraig MacNeela is leading that initiative. It is a really good information resource for staff and students, and these are tools that simply did not exist until recent years. The University College Cork, UCC, Bystander Intervention programme is similar. This issue is not confined to higher education, but I want the sector to lead in this area and we have many leaders working tirelessly to ensure that happens.

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