Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to fund bystander programmes aimed at helping participants to learn to detect the risk of sexual violence in social contexts, to challenge sexist attitudes and behaviours, to intervene safely in potentially dangerous situations, and to provide support to friends who are being or have been victimised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41916/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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One of the objectives of the National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2010-2014 is to increase understanding and recognition of these forms of violence in Ireland throughout society and also within specific audiences, such as health care professionals, the justice sector, the education sector, particularly at second and third level, and among young people generally.

Cosc, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, operates an awareness raising grant scheme which provides funding for local awareness raising campaigns that increase understanding and recognition of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This year Cosc has provided grants totalling €241,820 to 59 successful applicants throughout the country. In 2011 €298,153 was granted to 58 different groups from the scheme. Guidelines devised by Cosc in 2011 in relation to the grant scheme aim to encourage a shift from a focus on activities only relating to the victim to an inclusion of a focus on the perpetrator and bystander whilst also ensuring that information on support services continues to be made available to victims/survivors.

The bystander approach aims to both engage individual members of society in challenging the social norms that allow sexual and domestic violence to occur and to encourage individuals to assist victims of such violence rather than isolating them. One example of this approach has been a partnership between the Union of Students of Ireland and Cosc over the last two years to increase awareness of domestic and sexual violence among students attending third level institutions. The purpose of this campaign was to make students as bystanders more aware of intimate partner violence in the college setting and to intervene where relevant. There have been three stages to date in this work: an awareness raising art work competition, distribution of colourful wristbands with a slogan and website details for more information, and the circulation of a free postcard, visually based on the winning piece from the art competition, containing information about abusive relationships and the helplines to contact. The theme of the campaign could be summarised by one of the slogans used "If you see something, say something".