Consent classes are to be rolled out to secondary schools and sports clubs across the country.

The Smart Consent workshops had been originally developed for college campuses by Pádraig MacNeela and Siobhán O’Higgins, from NUIG’s School of Psychology. The programme has now been adapted to suit the age profile of school students.

The programme will be launched in schools in early 2020. However, several schools have already had the workshop.

All sexual orientations and gender identities are included, as is the role of alcohol and drugs in consent.

The organisers say they now plan to work with various networks and groups to reach young people aged between 16 and 24 years old through third level, second level and sports clubs too.

Caroline West, a lecturer and researcher in sexuality studies at DCU, had facilitated these workshops at third level and welcomes the news that they will be rolled out to even younger ages.

“As someone who’s facilitated this class at third level I sometimes feel it’s too late,” she said. “We need to talk to a younger age. People are already having sex before they come to university and assaults have already occurred. If we have the conversation earlier, then consent is normalised.”