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TACKLING SEXUAL ASSAULT and harassment in Irish society will be high on this government’s agenda, the Minister for Further and Higher Education will say today.
Simon Harris will meet with the National Women’s Council’s advisory committee on tackling sexual harassment and sexual violence in third-level education.
A survey by the Union of Students in Ireland recently found one third of female students reported having been raped. Two thirds said they had been sexually harassed.
“I didn’t think I lived under a rock but I was stunned by its findings,” Harris will say in his address to the council.
“It is the same shock I experienced when I launched the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s annual report last year. Sexual harassment, sexual intimidation, rape, gender-based violence are becoming increasingly common crimes.
Thankfully, many victims are more willing to come forward now but the warning signs in the USI survey should be a cause to action. We shouldn’t presume that the problem begins or ends in our third level institutions.
The minister will say it can start in homes and schools, through toxic cultures in sports clubs, in workplaces and in pubs.
“I want you to be under no illusion about my determination to deal with this epidemic. And I want the third level sector not to be a problem area but a leader. A leader in diversity. In respect. In inclusion. In zero tolerance.
Consent is not an option. It is a requirement. I don’t care what a victim was wearing. I don’t care how many drinks the perpetrator or the victim had. I don’t care if you believed he or she was “up for it” or not. I don’t care if they came home with you.
“Sex without consent is assault and it is a crime. We cannot address these issues unless we confront the uncomfortable reality that this is happening.”
The minister will challenge the council to come up with three concrete proposals to implement within 12 months.
“It is time to cop on. It is time for us to confront this and it is time for us to do something about it. It is a conversation we must have in every household. On every campus.
“I promise you here today that I, alongside my colleague Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, are committed to being the voice for change in this area. To change the laws that must be changed. To advocate and educate.”
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It’s turns out that internet misinformation is far more deadly than anyone had imagined. Critical thinking should be taught at all schools from a young age.
@Simon Power: unfortunately it doesn’t matter if they teach it in schools , what they learn at home will super seed it
@Simon Power: Yes, but in America there are additional cultural, ideological, political and religious factors leading to citizens refusing the vaccines. It’s not a nation. It’s a collection of sub-societies each with their own identities.
@Simon Power: Having the internet without being able to think critically, is like having the university library without having the university, or having a Ferrari bit not knowing how to drive. The once quaint “Educated in the university of life… ” cliche is turning out to be the nightmare very few could.have envisaged.
@Simon Power: the terrible irony here is that critical thinking has been actively discouraged by the likes of you, critical thinking does not mean blind obedience to whatever the government says.
If you’re suggesting that people who refuse the vaccine are incapable of critical thinking but assert that those who took the vaccine have demonstrated critical thinking, then you are a lost cause.
We’ve had almost 2 years of this and instead of solely relying on a vaccine, we could have gotten our house in order, poor nutrition and obesity are huge contributors to covid deaths….a nationwide campaign for obese people to lose weight and everyone else to just eat better would have been a great idea.
@Dan Broderick: The type of “critical thinking” you’re talking about is the same kind of critical thinking that lead to climate change denial. Proper critical thinking allows people to evaluate what they do know as apart from what they don’t. It also tells us that there are people better placed than ourselves to make these highly specialised judgements. Your type of critical thinking is all about speculation and trawling the web for the lone voice in a thousand that agrees with your speculation. That’s not critical thinking. It’s not even logical thinking.
@Vonvonic: I clearly have too much free time today if I’m responding to you but you’re demonstrating willful ignorance here.
I recommend a multi faceted approach to dealing with Covid, a physically fit person who eats a healthy and varied diet and gets out in nature daily but declines the vaccine for whatever reason, is doing more to help themselves than an obese person who continues to eat crap, watches TV 15 hours a day but gets the vaccine.
If you’re going to ridicule a healthy person for declining the vaccine and accepting their increased risk of getting ill with Covid, then why not ridicule every fat person for actively choosing ill health through negligence?
It’s all about personal responsibility!
@Dan Broderick: Ridicule?. You don’t need to get precious Dan. We’re all grown ups on here. If you dish it, you can surely take it. Critical thinking would tell us that the vaccination program has been a huge success. It also tells us that vaccinaton is the reason we’re able to open society next week. As for diet. Everyone knows that a healthy lifestyle and a good diet are beneficial for good health outcomes. You don’t need to be an expert for that. In one breath you’re saying the government should be promoting better lifestyles and diets. On the other you’re saying that we shouldn’t believe everything the government tells us. That’s some paradox
@Simon Power: aside from misinformation you’d wonder how many of those 70 million would be taking it if it was the orange lad pushing it instead of sleepy joe. A lot, I’d wager, despite the republicans shiting on ad nauseum about the Democrats politicising the virus.
Biden really hasn’t got a handle on this at all.
@LaoisWeather: Very hard to fix stoopid
@LaoisWeather: What’s he going to do? Going around and personally vaccinated every conservative who refuses to be vaccinated? His grasp of the situation is leaps and bounds better than Trump.
The most problematic states are states with a Republican majority. They have the lowest vaccinate rates.
@LaoisWeather: far better than the mango m0r0n . Remember him? Over 500,000 died on his watch in a year. The rate of people dying has obviously slowed down!
So Biden is going at about the same death rate as Trump was.
@bread of heaven: I’d suggest looking at the political history of the deceased. There is a distinct over representation of republicans.
@bread of heaven:
Unvaccinated people are dying at the same rate as they always were.
Pity there’s no vaccine for stoopidity.
@bread of heaven: eh, no! Trump had over half a million in a year! Biden ain’t gonna get close to that.
have your say