Ms Orla McGowan:

I would like to respond to Deputy Paul Murphy's question on the area of childhood innocence. We did some research with parents of four to nine year old children on talking to young children about growing up, relationships and sexuality to support us and they raised the issues of giving them too much information, childhood innocence and so on. However, the overwhelming response from parents was that they wanted to do a better job than their own parents in this area. They believed it was important that their children received RSE but they were stuck regarding the language, what they should say, when they should say it, how not to say too much while providing enough information and so on.

In terms of the response to that, when a parent asks how they should teach a three year old about RSE, we tell them that they are doing it. Whether they think they are doing it, if they are in a relationship with their children, they are giving them information on how they should feel about their body, what it is to be a boy or a girl and naming their feelings. By the time the children are four they will be asked where babies come from and, therefore, all those areas constitute RSE at the age of three, for example, as Deputy Murphy mentioned.

At the age of seven, it is still the same education. The children might get some information in the school curriculum but young people ask questions long before the topic is dealt with in the school. That might be appropriate because children develop at different rates and the primary responsibility for RSE is with parents. Parents are asked these questions constantly. A seven year old might be curious about the different types of love. They might ask, "Who do you love more? Me, Daddy or Granny?" Those are the types of questions they will ask and when parents respond to those questions, they are talking to the children about different types of love. Questions might arise from school. For example, children might ask the reason another student has two mums or two dads, and the parent will answer that. That is RSE. We talk about privacy and nudity in terms of who is and is not allowed see them without clothes. There are also general messages about children having a positive body image.

International guidance on age appropriate sexuality education developed by the World Health Organization, WHO, is available but the main point is that parents are doing it anyway. It is just a question of how they are doing it.