Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I have a question for the Irish Human Rights Commission. In regard to civic, social and political education, CSPE, and PE, schools are critical in terms of how people are set up for life. Those are two very important skills. We do a lot on the academic side but the other skills people need are in those two particular subjects. The History Teachers' Association appeared before the committee in recent months. It advocated that history should be a compulsory subject. There are many people who advocate that religion should be a compulsory subject. If one were to take on board all those one would have, including English, Irish, maths, religion, PE, history and so on, eight subjects out of nine would be compulsory without having a science or language subject. I would appreciate the comments of the witnesses on how that would fit into the programme. Perhaps the ASTI would comment on CSPE and PE and the teachers' view.