Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to speak at relatively late notice. I was distracted elsewhere. At the outset, I wish to welcome the Minister and to say in a genuinely non-partisan and objective way, which I hope people will recognise, that he is the first person in public life in a long time that I am aware of to confront this issue head-on, bring it into the public domain and take action on it. I salute him for that. I will make the point later that it must be vigorously pursued, but I congratulate the Minister. I also wish to warmly congratulate my colleague, Senator Ruane, for bringing forward this issue. She is an excellent Senator who pursues real, deep issues for people. This is yet another example of that. I salute Senator Ruane for that. It is actually the main reason that I was doing other things, but I wanted to come in just to say that, because it is important that we show solidarity in these instances.

Obviously, sexual harassment is a despicable crime. It is heinous and all the adjectives you could think of. Tragically, as my good colleague, Senator Ward, said, it was swept under the carpet and ignored for a long time. That is wrong. Bullying is wrong and was a feature of traditional Irish schools. That does not mean that it was present in every school but it was there, and for many years, it was ignored. It was perceived that by ignoring it and allowing it to continue, people were toughened up. It was a perverse logic and caused huge damage to people for many years. It is a pernicious thing. Within bullying, homophobic bullying is particularly wrong dimension of it.

The Minister's speech contains three words: "prevent", "reduce", and "support". That is what it is about. I am glad that the framework was launched in 2019. The Minister talked about action plans and said that he has urged the presidents of colleges to produce action plans based on the framework. I do not know what carrot and stick the Minister can use, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. I would love for the Minister to come back to the House, and we could invite him here in a year's time, to tell us that there is actually an action plan in each institution. Many primary and secondary schools have confronted this issue satisfactorily, but more action is needed.

The Minister was with me recently when we visited third level, post-leaving certificate and Youthreach institutions. We met wonderful people there and saw that they are articulate and confident and how they are developing as individuals. Sexual harassment and bullying has the potential to put all that to nought. Action plans must be put in place. People will want to see those action plans. They should be in the public domain. The Minister should insist on that. To be honest, these plans should be linked to grants. There should not be Government support for institutions without them. That should be the case.

If I understand the Minister's speech correctly, and he should correct me if I am wrong, I believe that the psychological counsellors will be committed to each college and resourced. The presence of these counsellors needs to be flagged and they need to be used.

Senator Ward said a lot when he said that for too long we brushed this under the carpet. We did it collectively and individually. It was done across all strata of society and by everybody. It was wrong. There is no point in just condemning it as being in the past. It needs to be condemned. We need to call it out, name it and not be embarrassed about doing so. We did the wrong thing. It is part of our history. There is no point in celebrating wonderful events in our history, and of course we should, but we must be fit to face up to what was not right. This is one of those things. We have faced up to that, but the logical progression from that, as the Minister is doing with the framework, the action plans and the psychological counsellors, is to see results. We need to see results from this. It was brushed under the carpet for too long.

I have a background in teaching and I am also a parent of three wonderful sons. I really get this. I get the horrendous implications for people who are the victims of bullying, sexual harassment, sexual bullying or all of it. The damage can be inter-generational.That person is damaged and their capacity to form relationships and be adequate parents is damaged. It damages their entire existence.

There is no point in labouring the point. All I say to the Minister is that what he has done so far is wonderful. I ask him to see it through to the bitter end in A, B, C terms, with definable, objective and clearly visible goals. I congratulate our colleague, Senator Ruane, for what she has done today. It is great work.