Higher Education Minister Simon Harris has said that the demand for sexual consent classes is growing and will help bring about "cultural change".
As part of the Government’s strategy to end domestic and gender-based violence, workshops and classes were rolled out across a number of third-level institutions.
Last week, Minister Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced an extension of the Active Consent programme over a five-year period.
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Since 2019, more than 70,000 first-year college students have participated in a consent workshop.
Minister Harris said that experience shows that where classes are rolled out, students will attend.
"We saw 22,000 third level students last year in higher education take consent classes," he explained.
"These numbers have risen and risen and risen. What's really encouraging is in all of the surveys that are being carried out both students and staff are saying where you provide classes we want to take them. There is a real demand.
"What we have decided to do now is expand us to further education training and also to our youth outreach centres as well.
"Crucially though, if we want to get to zero tolerance, and we have to get to zero tolerance in relation to domestic sexual and gender-based violence, we really need to make sure everyone is playing the role fully, every part of the stage, every part of society.
"We can change the laws all we want and that's important and we should do that.
"But laws in and of themselves won't get us to zero tolerance.
"It's a cultural change that we need.
"That's where I think third-level education and education in general has a really important role to play.
"We've provided funding now for all our universities to hire a coordinator for each of the colleges to coordinate the delivery of their plans on zero tolerance as well.
"We expect those people to all be in post for the start of the new college year."
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