Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

More than 100 years ago James Joyce, in his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, described how a priest, Fr. Arnall, gave lectures to schoolchildren about the evils of the flesh and how they would suffer hellfire and damnation if they in any way gave into feelings of sexuality or even acknowledged it. In that chapter he brilliantly counterposed the denial of sexuality enforced by the Catholic Church which induced feelings of guilt and so on with the completely distorted view of it. He used the symbol of prostitution, with women being seen as sexual objects. In the chapter he captures what would later happen in this state when the Catholic Church was given control of schools and the education of young people. It had really dire consequences as it helped to create a culture where it was legitimate to treat women as chattel, lock them up and treat them as sinners and fallen women, etc. if they had sex outside marriage. It carried right through to the despicable texts we saw exchanged between the rugby players, which appalled everyone. They demonstrated the objectification of women and their sexuality.

There are many complicated reasons for the rotten record the State has in its treatment of women, the prevalence of sexual violence and the high rates of suicide among LGBT and transgender people. The rates are way higher in this country than anywhere else. The role of the church in denying young people in this country proper sex education because of its ethos is absolutely critical. It is frankly worse than ironic and terrible that Fianna Fáil acknowledges that there might have to be change in all of this-----

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