Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On my own behalf and that of the Minister for Justice and Equality, I thank Senators Norris and Zappone for proposing the important and topical issue of homophobic bullying for discussion. I emphasise the Government's continued commitment to promoting respect for human rights and equality of opportunity in Irish society. Tolerance of homophobic bullying is simply not compatible with respect for the intrinsic dignity of each human being.

Good humoured, if sometimes robust, teasing and banter between colleagues, classmates and team mates are part of the culture of modern Ireland. It has an important place in social interaction, in building camaraderie and friendships. It can nudge us out of depression, help us see the funny side of situations, think more optimistically and can add enormously to the quality of life. There is, however, another darker side. Without good will, empathy or respect for others, what seemingly starts off as banter can quickly turn sour. To put this in context, the ground-breaking 2009 survey of Irish lebian, gay, bisexual and transgender, LGBT, people, "Supporting LGBT Lives", found that to avoid being threatened or called abusive names by work colleagues, almost one in ten respondents had missed work.

Bullying can be insidious. The dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour is often a fine one. This is a question to which the Oireachtas has given careful consideration. In laws enacted by these Houses, we have defined bullying as repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, and which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual's right to dignity. In the work environment, an isolated incident may be an affront to dignity but, as a once-off incident, is not considered to be bullying. I should stress, however, that it can he harassment. Harassment, in equality law, is any form of unwanted conduct related to any of the discriminatory grounds, such as gender or sexual orientation, which has either the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity and of creating an environment for the person that is intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive. Such conduct may consist of spoken words, actions or gestures. It may also consist of the production, display or circulation of written words, pictures or other material.

These are powerful definitions. They make it quite clear that certain kinds of behaviour are totally unacceptable in law. This is not because of any concerns of political correctness. Such kinds of behaviour are unacceptable precisely because they are harmful, both to the individuals targeted and to wider society. This point should by now be beyond dispute.

We know that bullying and harassment cause harm. If Senators are not familiar with the 2008 "Supporting LGBT Lives" study, I urge them to read it. For the most vulnerable, this research showed heightened levels of psychological distress arising from stigmatisation and harassment, leading to significant levels of self-harm and thoughts of suicide. Being physically threatened or attacked, or experiencing homophobic bullying in schools, were identified as risk factors for those who attempted suicide. Recent research from the United States goes further, and suggests identity-based bullying, such as homophobic bullying, impacts more severely on the victim than other forms of bullying.

It is quite clear in the employment context that bullying impacts on health and safety. Harassment on the ground of sexual orientation or gender identity is also a form of discrimination and as such is prohibited. A workplace in which bullying and harassment are tolerated and allowed to continue is neither a safe nor a productive environment for any of the persons working there. In other areas of public life, such as in accessing health care, education, transport, clubs and sports, harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity is also prohibited under the Equal Status Act.

There are means in law of pursuing complaints and seeking redress where a person has suffered bullying or harassment. We are strengthening these mechanisms with the forthcoming merger of the Equality Authority and Irish Human Rights Commission and the formation of the new workplace relations service, which will incorporate the Equality Tribunal. These new structures will be simpler and easier for members of the public to find and to deal with, and will provide more effective means of enforcing decisions.

I would like to focus, however, on preventive measures. Combating homophobic bullying and harassment successfully requires action on a number of levels. It starts with a recognition that a problem exists. The key to this has to be education, which extends into every facet of public life from school to work to community activities. In this regard, I cannot overstate the value of the persistent advocacy of NGOs representing LGBT people and their generosity in sharing their knowledge and skills. I refer to one example, a short video from BeLonGTo encouraging young people to support their LGBT friends called "Stand Up! Don't stand for homophobic bullying", which is currently the most viewed video posted online by an Irish charity with more than 1 million views. This also features in the first UN global campaign to tackle homophobic bullying, which serves to demonstrate the universal application and importance of this message.

Debates in public foras such as today's, and last May's Dáil debate on bullying in schools, also play an important part in normalising discussion of matters related to sexual orientation and, in particular, informing the public about the issue of homophobia. It is a matter for us, as public representatives, to promote respect for the rule of law and to challenge breaches of human rights as we see them, to do our utmost to encourage the businesses, employers, schools and voluntary groups in our communities and to take simple and practical steps to embed respect for all persons in the way their staff, customers or members interact.

What are these steps? For businesses, they start with taking note of two codes of practices, on bullying and on harassment and sexual harassment, respectively. It is a matter of great credit to the Equality Authority that we have had a statutory code of practice on harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace since 2002. This code was updated earlier this year and it is a powerful tool for employers who want to get things right. Advice and support on giving effect to the code is available to them from the Equality Authority. Moreover, a practical guide for employers on lesbian, gay and bisexual diversity in the workplace is available from GLEN, having been developed with support from the Equality Authority and others. In addition to tackling workplace bullying and harassment, this involves building a culture of respect in the organisation, recruiting and selecting fairly, reviewing terms and conditions of employment, and managing performance fairly . Community and voluntary groups, sports clubs and associations are encouraged to develop equal status action plans. The education sector, in post-primary schools in particular, has seen a sustained focus over the past decade on tackling bullying. Considerable work has been done by State agencies and NGOs such as the Gay + Lesbian Equality Network, GLEN, and BeLonGTo.

Most recently, the anti-bullying forum established last May by the Minister for Education and Skills brought together a range of experts, support groups and representatives of the schools sector to explore ways of tackling bullying in schools. The outcomes, recommendations and submissions from this forum are assisting the dedicated working group set up by the Minister to consider further actions required to tackle bullying in schools, including homophobic bullying, cyber bullying and racist bullying, in particular. A key element in dealing with the problem of bullying is having a school culture of awareness of the seriousness of the issue and having in place a whole school approach to dealing with it.

Anti-bullying policies work best where the entire school community, including school management, authorities, staff, students and parents all support and adhere to them. None of these measures on their own will eliminate completely homophobic bullying but used consistently and effectively, they can and will demonstrate such behaviour is unacceptable in a civilised society and has adverse consequences for bullies and their employers. We must now seek to address how we can deepen the impact of the measures that already are in place, as well as strengthening the culture of awareness in schools and businesses. I look forward to hearing the debate today, which always is both interesting and informed. There may be a question and answer session later.