Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the discussion on this Bill. I thank Deputies Ruth Coppinger, Mick Barry and Paul Murphy for introducing it. It is understandable the media and others concentrated on the substantive issues discussed at the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, but it should be noted that sex education was also an important part of the committee's thinking. We made specific ancillary recommendations in relation to sex education. The majority report of the committee concluded that "there is a clear link between effective sex education and lower levels of crisis pregnancies". The committee heard overwhelming evidence to that effect. It is obvious that we need improvements in sexual health and relationships education in schools and youth clubs. The committee noted "the ongoing developments that are taking place in respect of relationship and sexuality education (RSE) and social, personal and health education (SPHE) in our schools" but expressed "specific concern in relation to what is happening at second level". The report continued:

The Committee’s concerns can be summarised as follows.(a) For many schools, sex education is delivered as part of religious education and furthermore it is delivered on an ad-hoc basis, for example not being covered until late in the education cycle.

(b) Many teachers are not comfortable teaching RSE and therefore it is left to a minority of teachers or it is outsourced to an agency.

(c) As the Committee understands matters, such agencies and their use by schools are not regulated and those delivering the course are not required to have a teaching qualification. It therefore appears to the Committee that any person can set up as an agency to deliver sex education.

(d) The ethos of the school can influence how RSE course content is delivered.

Regardless of whether we are comfortable with it, young people engage in sexual activity. Therefore, they need to hear about the pitfalls of having unprotected sex with regard to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. They also need to hear about proper contraception and relationships. They need to hear facts about abortion. They need to hear all of this in an absolutely unbiased fashion. They need facts, not beliefs. Young people need far more than a few classes in which they are taught about the biology of reproduction and puberty. The word "sex" or any discussion of it is still something to be avoided among some people and groups. Young people have no such hang-ups about it. They are very conscious of the world around them and have access to more information online than we ever had.

To illustrate why is it so important that we educate our young people on sex and relationships in school, I would like to quote from an article in The Guardianby Lucy Emerson:

Sex education matters in primary schools because four-year-olds ask where babies come from, five-year-olds browse the internet and six-year-olds want to be popular with their friends. Sex education matters at home because children want their parents to be the first people to talk to them about growing up, sex and relationships. Yet many parents say they lack confidence to answer their children's questions frankly. matters in secondary schools especially because this is a time when young people come under new pressures from their peers and are reaching for more independence and considering their own views on love, romance and what is acceptable or unacceptable for them.

I welcome the Minister's announcement on 3 April that a major review of relationship and sexuality education in schools will be carried out. The Joint Committee on Education and Skills recently invited submissions on its review of sexual health and relationship education, including contraception, consent and related matters. It is welcome that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Department of Education and Skills are among the organisations invited to submit written submissions. As I read it, the Bill seeks to address the problems I have mentioned through primary legislation. This is something I welcome. I look forward to engaging with the Deputies as the legislation progresses through the Houses.

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