Ms Jane Donnelly:

The circular letter on sex education from the Department is contradictory. I have noted that. It is very disappointing that something like that would come from the Department of Education and Skills. While the schools' policies on sex education are not all published, parents have sometimes sent them to us and we seek them out. Sometimes they are clear that Catholic sex education is being taught and that is fine, we know what that is. Other times they quote from the Department's circular letter and talk about objective sex education yet go on in the policy to talk about Catholic sex education. If what is coming from the Department is contradictory and the school's policy is also contradictory, how do we expect parents to understand that?

Policy needs to be clear. What are our children being taught with regards to sex education in school? Even in the Education Act, ethos is not defined. As to what does that mean, it means different things to different people and different schools. Parents do not know what to expect. We are getting contradictory messages from the Department of Education and Skills. The policies are not clear. We need facts. We need to know what our children are being taught and that is all we are asking. If needs be we can opt our children out of the classes. If they are religious-run sex education classes, there needs to be a process to say we are opting them out. What they do when they opt out is another thing but we need practical and clear information.