Ms Anna Keogh:

Yes. There are some organisations which have been going in. However, that goes back to the question about ethos and whether it reflects the school's ethos. If the ethos clause was taken out of the Education Acts, those organisations would not be allowed to go in because it would not be factual. Deputy Paul Murphy asked whether the ethos clause made it possible to teach factual information. There is some factual information being taught by teachers and outside facilitators and we are trusting them. However, it means the information can be skewed. Senator Gavan asked about this. The Department said the ethos cannot affect the content but it can affect the delivery. That means, for example, the school would have to teach a module on different sexualities, but in the delivery, it can say it thinks they are wrong if that is the ethos. That is what that means on a day-to-day basis. The ethos affects almost everything in the programme, including outside facilitators. Taking the ethos clause out of the Education Acts would be a way to regulate them.