Ms Sarah Haslam:

I would like to make two points in response to Deputy Paul Murphy, the first of which is about gender. We do not agree with splitting the curriculum in terms of gender. Our curriculum is for all genders and everybody participates in all aspects of it. One of the core modules of this programme relates to gender and sexuality, which we sought advice on from BeLonG To, and we continue to work with it to update that. It is one of the key modules in this programme that has seen significant effects statistically in terms of young people's attitudes towards members of the LGBTI+ community.

I echo what Dr. Aoife Neary said on age and taking away innocence. A spiral curriculum is what we would recommend and that key pieces of learning must start early and continue to be repeated and built on as young people age.

The Chairman asked if we have been asked about this by teachers. They are beating down our door seeking this curriculum but we face two barriers in that regard. First, we cannot replace the educational curriculum; we cannot come in and replace what is provided. We are seeking to be the named as the curriculum. The second barrier is the cut in our core funding. We had a 33% cut in our core funding of which only 7.5% has been restored. That has impacted on our resources and on young people accessing the programme. This year, we have 200 people waiting on a list to be trained to facilitate this programme.

Coming back to what Dr. Saidléar said, if we continue to research, talk and write curricula from the beginning, we are failing our young people now. There are curricula available. We are an example of one that has been tested robustly. It is our job to work with young people and to ensure our curriculum and programmes meet the needs of young people. Young people are constantly inputting into this curriculum, which is the reason we have to continue to update it.

There is no point reinventing the wheel. We are calling for this to be the named curriculum and for the Government to invest in, and fund schools, to allow them access the current network of trained and skilled professionals to come into schools and to train teachers who are in a position to cover this curriculum to the standard to which we train them, and be supported by us on an ongoing basis.