Ms Saoirse Brady:

It is a very complex issue. Certainly, age-appropriate sex education should be instilled in schools from a very young age. There are programmes that the Council of Europe have developed on how we talk about LGBTI people in general. Obviously, we have come a long way in Ireland but we still have a way to go and things are not solved. We really need to address those issues. Having the NCCA put in place a proper curriculum around this could help inclusion. Talking to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh's point, it is not just about LGBTI for children and young people, and it has to be inclusive across the board. We have to look at how we instill equality in our children and young people from a very young age and, again, there needs to be consistency across schools, which is key. In regard to the RSE piece in particular, what we have seen are people going into schools where the boards of management decide who comes in, and it is not consistent across the board. Therefore, they may not be presenting the most factual or accurate information, and it may not be in line with some of our human rights and equality law, as we know it. We need to address all of that and have a more inclusive education system.

The other piece, to which Deputy Ó Laoghaire alluded, is consulting with children and young people around this and asking how they want to learn about this. They need to have an input into any changes that will be put in place.

Touching on the piece around bullying being rife, that came from BeLonG To. One of the things it noticed is that it is not just about the people who are carrying out the bullying, it is about the bystanders as well and it is about the staff in schools. It acknowledges that some staff in schools do not know how to intervene and feel it is not their place. We need to address all of that if we really want to make our schools more inclusive.