Fianna Fáil calls for 'national conversation' around sexual consent
Fianna Fail has called for a "national conversation" around sexual consent as well as special workshops and awareness campaigns in schools and colleges.
Justice spokesman Jim O'Callaghan is also pressing for specific sentencing guidelines for rape and sexual assault, calling on the government to enact outstanding legislation from 2013.
The party wants consent awareness campaigns for young males in college. This follows the rape of three female college students in Cork, as revealed by the city's Sexual Violence Centre (SVC).
'Male predators' were targetting women in Cork as they left pubs and nightclubs, according to the SVC recently.
Mr O'Callaghan, speaking to the Irish Examiner, said: "There is a concern in universities about whether there is an awareness of consent. It also should be done in secondary schools.
This is a discussion we need to have amongst young men. Unfortunately, this generation of young men are exposed so much to pornography on the internet, which portrays women in a very submissive way.
While welcoming the government's commitment to carry out a second Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report, the Dublin Bay South TD said the Departments of Justice and Education need to have a role in highlighting the issue of consent among young men.
“By having workshops or it should be part of the curriculum in secondary schools. And there should be awareness in universities," he said, adding that a "national conversation" was needed.
A Fianna Fail 2013 Bill to set up a judicial commission to oversee sentencing guidelines, including for rape and sexual assault, was still pending before the Oireachtas, added Mr O'Callaghan.
Mr O'Callaghn said while there were proposals for guidelines for personal injury awards, the same logic should apply to sexual crimes, adding:
“There is still a lot of inconsistency, especially in the circuit criminal court, in respect of it [ sentencing].
"What threshold should the sentences be when circumstances involved X,Y,Z, violence was used or the extent to which the accused was in a position of responsibility over the victim?
There can be guidelines for issues like that.
Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor said last month that she was "appalled" at the prevalence of sexual violence among students.
She also said that sexual consent classes should be embedded across all third level facilities.
