Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have had difficulty with my computer this morning but I am on the campus. I heard the Minister's comments to Senator Warfield and I thank her for coming before us today. She said the facts were up to date in information and education is required for this in schools, particularly in RSE. I have not heard that sex education should not be ethos-based. I raise this because the Citizens' Assembly on gender equality is not the first citizens' assembly to recommend that sort of intervention in our education system being required. The Citizens' Assembly on the eighth amendment to the Constitution recommended that in 2017. It was a further or ancillary recommendation of the all-party Oireachtas committee in 2018, which is now four years ago.

I have heard what the Minister said about preparation, training and all the rest of it but does the Minister not regard the process as being extremely slow in an area where such change is urgently required? Young people in particular are having difficulty grappling with identity and dealing with harassment around identity and sexuality, for example, which I will deal with in my next question. We are still without proper sexual relationships training in our school. The Minister has said we will roll out a course and ensure staff are trained but will she put dates on the process? Will she comment on how the education should not be based on ethos?

Needless to say, there have been a number of Bills, one going back to 2016, that were put forward by Opposition groups, including mine, to try to help the Government to introduce this measure with some urgency. They have always sat there waiting for a money message and nothing has happened. Perhaps if one of those Opposition Bills had been passed, the Department might have been quicker to implement what young people require rather than seeing this as a long and drawn-out process. As I mentioned, four years ago we saw the first recommendation on this coming from the Citizens' Assembly on the eighth amendment and the Oireachtas committee. We still do not have what young people need in schools. Most of the kids from the days in which we first saw the recommendation would be in the workplace or college now.

I have a second question that has a sort of a link to the first. It relates to sexual harassment and violence in secondary schools. Rape Crisis Network Ireland has called for a study to be carried out on the rates of such violence and harassment for over a decade. Will the Minister comment on the possibility of such a study being carried out and a report being available to all of us who are concerned about the education of the next generation and the prevalence of sexual harassment in secondary schools?

This is really important for LGBTQ+ young people. There is a finding from Dr. Michelle Walsh in 2021 that almost half of all students in secondary schools have indicated they would not know who to go to in their school if they experienced sexual harassment. That is an indictment and a half of our system.