Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for having to leave earlier. I will have to leave again shortly to go to the Dáil. I disagree with very little that has been said. I agree with practically all of it. I set out the only issue I have in a parliamentary question that I tabled in the Dáil last week. As two or three speakers have said, it has been recommended that outside bodies should come in to give these lessons. There are many outside bodies going into schools at the moment. Concerns have been raised about some of them. There are sports organisations going in. It all seems fantastic, but there is absolutely no regulation of this activity. I am concerned that no standard practice has been set down at a departmental level to oversee who is allowed in and out of our schools. I see the potential for this to become an issue in the most benign areas. It has been mentioned as an issue in sex education. There are groups going in that people say should not be going in because they are not happy about what those groups are doing. People on the other side of the argument might say they are not happy about some other crowd going in. Do the witnesses have any suggestions in that regard? Teachers are trained to teach. Nowadays, many of them have master's degrees. Why do they need to be taken out of the picture when these subjects are being introduced in our schools? Maybe there is an obvious answer to that.

One of the speakers referred to the suggestion that we could be throwing too much at the education system. When problems arise, it is often suggested that the education system should sort it out. It is obvious that we have to educate people on the issue of consent, for example, but it is clearly a societal issue. Perhaps it is beyond the scope of this committee and the witnesses who are present to deal with it. I am not sure what the education system can do about the valueless attitude or mindset that clearly exists among certain people in society. Maybe it can try to deal with it, but I think we all have a responsibility in this regard.