Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Thomas Byrne. While I do not favour a legislative approach to this, I would like immediate action not only on the issue of sexual education but also on the many issues confronting everyone in a changing school environment. At one of my first informal meetings with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs I spoke about the need for specific curriculum time both at primary and second level for learning for life, whether that relates to sex education, cookery, healthy eating, the scourge of mental health issues, and the use of social media. Young people are in crisis in respect of mental health with more than ever self-harming. I spent 35 years teaching at primary level and the most effective education programme introduced in respect of RSE was the Stay Safe programme which focused on three strands: "myself, myself and others, myself and the wider community". The programme not only involved the school community but also the parents who were fully informed of its content and took an active part in its delivery. While there is much criticism of church involvement in the education curriculum and while I accept that the world is changing, my boss in the school where I worked was the parish priest. He knew nothing about the Stay Safe programme, but he spoke to the children every week as he visited the classrooms about the three forms of respect they needed to have in life: respect for oneself, respect for one's family and respect for the wider community, which is similar to what was taught in the Stay Safe programme.

I have no issue with the contents of the legislation, but I have an issue with it being enacted. As Deputy Thomas Byrne said, the Oireachtas has never legislated for curriculum contents nor involved itself with it-----

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