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A coalition of 18 LGBTQ organisations will launch their joint manifesto next Wednesday in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission event space on Green Street in Dublin.
The coalition says that over the last year the 18 organisations from across the country have been working together on a set of policy priorities for the next Government, which if implemented would make “Ireland one of the best places in Europe to be LGBTQ.”
Members of the coalition include TENI, LGBT Ireland and Mammies for Trans Rights.
Government currently funds a number of LGBTQ+ organisations through initiatives supported by Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, most recently through extending applications to organisations who work with young people to apply for funding under the LGBTI+ Youth Fund 2024.
A total of up to €400,000 is being made available in grants to applicants to the fund, with the term of the grant running from October 2024 to December 2025.
The Department says the fund has been established to support initiatives that make a difference in ensuring LGBTI+ young people are visible, included, treated equally, healthy, and safe in their communities.
Additional Government initiatives include a launch by the Department of Education of the Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying/
A significant action under Cineáltas was completed with the publication in June of this year of Bí Cineálta: Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools. The Bí Cineálta procedures are to be implemented by schools at the start of the 2025/2026 school year.
Also under Cineáltas, the Department has commissioned a review and update of the Being LGBT In School resource. The work is being carried out by Maynooth University.
The updated Junior Cycle SPHE, which was introduced to schools in September 2023, also includes four strands: Understanding Myself and Others, Making Healthy Choices, Relationships and Sexuality, and Emotional Wellbeing. Among the learning outcomes of the Relationships and Sexuality strand is that students should be able to “appreciate the breadth of what constitutes human sexuality, and how sexual orientation and gender identity are experienced and expressed in many ways”.
The NCCA’s newly developed Senior Cycle SPHE specification also includes as a mandatory component 60 hours of teaching and learning over two years.
According to Minister Foley, learning outcomes should aim at ensuring that students should be able to “examine how both positive and harmful attitudes around gender are perpetuated in the media, online, and in society and discuss strategies for challenging and changing harmful attitudes and narratives.”
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