Inaugural Meeting of Steering Committee of Ireland’s National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019 – 2021
Ministers commend creativity shown in alternative celebrations
Funding of over €900,000 to support equality and LGBTI+ initiatives
Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD, and Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton TD, today wished everyone participating in Pride events an enjoyable week celebrating equality and diversity.
Minister Flanagan said:
The COVID-19 pandemic been a challenging time for everyone including LGBTI+ people, many of whom have been isolated from their support networks and communities. During the current emergency many supports and events have been cancelled or moved to online, such as Dublin Pride Parade. Not being able to actually hold parades this year is a loss keenly felt by the community, but enormous creativity is being shown in moving festivals online and in organising alternative ways of ensuring LGBTI+ people feel accepted and included.
Minister Stanton added:
This time last year, we were enjoying the first formal participation of the civil and public service in the Dublin Pride parade. Over 600 public servants participated under the theme ‘Proud to Work for Ireland’. It is very disappointing that we can’t celebrate in the same way this year, but I want to commend the tremendous innovation and determination that is evident in the alternative ways to celebrate that have been organised. I want to wish everyone participating in virtual parades and online events every success.
The Ministers also noted that it was fitting that the inaugural meeting of the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019 – 2021 Steering Committee had recently taken place.
The Inclusion Strategy was launched by the Department of Justice and Equality in November 2019. It aims to promote inclusion, protect rights and improve quality of life and wellbeing for LGBTI+ people, a vision which aligns with the overall vision of the Department of Justice and Equality for a safe, fair and inclusive Ireland. The inaugural meeting of the Strategy’s steering committee took place virtually on 16 June 2020. It was chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the Civil Justice and Equality pillar at the Department, Oonagh Buckley.
The all-of-Government National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy contains over 100 actions, one of which, a commitment to
coordinate a series of events and communications to support positive messaging around Pride and festivals nationwide and more broadly to promote LGBTI+ visibility, awareness and expertise
is especially relevant this week.
Additional funding of €0.7 million was provided in the budgetary allocation for 2020 to support equality and LGBTI+ initiatives bringing the total available to over €0.9 million.