Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I have a question for Mr. O'Sullivan from an INTO perspective. There has been mention of diversity in the classroom. It is sometimes difficult for children to see themselves at the front of the classroom if they are not from a traditional background. The Employment Equality Act provides that a school should not be taken to discriminate against a person for the purposes of this Act if "it gives more favourable treatment, on the religion ground, to an employee or a prospective employee over that person where it is reasonable to do so in order to maintain the religious ethos of the institution". That will naturally go against people from a different religious background or from none. I think it also has a cooling effect on teachers feeling they can be openly gay within a school setting. The Act also provides that a school should not be taken to discriminate against a person if "it takes action which is reasonably necessary to prevent an employee or a prospective employee from undermining the religious ethos of the institution".

We may have put too much emphasis on RSE in this discussion today. At last week's committee hearing, it was stated that homophobic bullying was rife in our secondary schools. I am concerned that our RSE programme at primary level does not really allow us to talk about homosexual relationships in a way that I think would be healthy and positive. We need to get to children before that age of 13 that Mr. Ryan was talking about. In this context, is there a need to go back to the Employment Equality Act to include the things we are talking about, diversity in the classroom and revisiting our RSE norms, to ensure it is fit for purpose?