Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The objectives of the Bill are broadly in line with the recommendations on sex education of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, on which I was the Labour Party representative. My party supports the Bill as it supports the recommendations of the committee in full and we thank our Dáil colleagues for tabling the Bill. The committee recommended a thorough review of sexual health education, including the areas of consent and contraception, in primary and post-primary schools, colleges, youth clubs and other organisations involved with young people. I take the point that not every young person attends a youth club so it is essential that schools are the main focus. Other committee recommendations are that sufficient time be provided in the curriculum for this aspect and that it be taught by suitably qualified personnel. It also specifically recommended that the information be provided in an impartial and factual manner independent of school ethos. It is essential that the facts are provided for young people objectively, not through the prism of a particular ethos, and I urge the Government to implement that fully and the other ancillary recommendations of the committee, which are also of great importance. The main focus has been on its recommendations that directly refer to the eighth amendment, but the ancillary recommendations are very important.

Of particular concern was the evidence given to the committee by the Department of Education and Skills that schools sometimes bring in outside agencies to deliver the SPHE and relationships and sexuality education, RSE, curricula. Such agencies may have a particular ethos - most of them have - a lack of objectivity and, in many cases, no training in teaching. The Department representatives also stated, "we know that there are issues relating to the competence and confidence of teachers regarding the delivery of RSE". Continuing professional development, CPD, upskilling and ensuring that teachers are properly trained and supported is essential.

The current provision is patchy at best. Some schools do a great job and there are very committed teachers who engage with young people and equip them well to deal with personal and sexual relationships and the challenges that they bring. However, other young people paint a very different picture in which they are either preached to or faced with a teacher who is uncomfortable with the subject, as other Members have mentioned, and gives minimal information and gets out of the classroom as quickly as he or she can. However, this education is so important in terms of the complex world which young people must now negotiate that it must be delivered by trained and motivated teachers. I have met some teachers who are passionate about doing the job well. In some cases, it would be a good idea to cluster schools such that a very motivated teacher can become a specialist and travel around to the different schools. That would mainly apply to post-primary schools.

In its recommendations for a thorough review of sexual health and relationship education in our schools, the committee noted a clear link between effective sex education and lower levels of crisis pregnancies. It is vital that our young people be properly equipped with age-appropriate modern information and facts, particularly at second level, on issues such as contraception and consent to inform the decisions they go on to make as young adults. As the Minister stated, he has asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, to review the curriculum, which is very welcome. The Joint Committee on Education and Skills, of which several other Deputies and I are members, is carrying out a review of sexual health and relationships education and has put out a call for submissions, the closing date for which is the end of this week, after which I presume the committee will draft a report and make recommendations. All of these things are happening.

The Bill is welcome as a contribution to such activity, although I take the point that a Bill cannot, of itself, deal with the complexities of curriculum design, etc. The Bill and the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution refer to the necessity for sex education to be age appropriate. We all understand the importance of that. However, there are currently posters all over Ireland which have graphic images that are causing young children to ask questions and, in my view and that of many parents, some of whom have spoken on the airwaves about the issue, make it very difficult to avoid conversations that are not age appropriate. Parents should not have such posters forced upon them or their children. I hope those responsible for those posters will recognise that images intended to persuade adults to a particular view are also visible to children. I have heard many reports of people bringing their children to school, driving past schools or walking around our towns and cities and their children asking them questions about issues on which the parents wish to have age-appropriate conversations with the children in the context of the kind of education we are discussing, but such conversations are forced upon them because thousands of such posters are visible every day of the week on streets around the country. It is deeply disturbing that while we debate how a curriculum should be developed in an age-appropriate way to equip children to deal with the complexities of sexuality and relationships, our streets are littered with images that have the very opposite effect.

As others have stated, there must be a positive and supportive context rather than a particular ethos. The well-being programme which is starting at junior cycle in post-primary schools is the kind of space in which we can have that positive and supportive context. We want young people to feel good about themselves and positive about the relationships they will form, and we want them to have accurate information. As others have mentioned, it is now a complex world in which young people have digital information coming at them in all kinds of ways. It can be very difficult for them to negotiate that world and they need a positive and supportive context in which to do so.

Members of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution learned that there are currently many gaps in the provision of sexual health and relationships education. Some schools do it well while others do it badly or scarcely at all. The approach on this issue must be inclusive of all schools and students, irrespective of the ethos of schools or the sexual identity, orientation, issues or situations of students. It must be inclusive of the decisions that will face young people in the world in which they live.

This is a really important area and it is welcome that we are debating it. However, my concern is that as we do this, we will walk out the door and see images that will force parents to have discussions with very young children about issues that are difficult enough for them to discuss with children at an appropriate age. I urge those who are responsible to do something about it and to consider the effect on young children.

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