Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government makes a commitment to developing inclusive and age-appropriate relationships and sexuality education, RSE, and social, personal and health education, SPHE, curricula at primary and post-primary levels, including an inclusive programme on LGBTI+ relationships and making appropriate legislative changes, if necessary. That is not happening, however. Instead, the Catholic Primary School Management Association, effectively the Catholic bishops, has published a new programme, Flourish, outlining how RSE should be taught in its schools. Not only is Flourish not LGBTI+ inclusive, it is positively homophobic. Let me quote a number of lines from Flourish to the Taoiseach in case he is not aware of it. It states, "The Church's teaching in relation to marriage between a man and a woman cannot be omitted". It describes puberty as "a gift from God" and states "we are perfectly designed by God to procreate with him". It states a Catholic school must consider these topics within "a moral framework that reflects the teachings of the Church". This is very far from what is promised in the programme for Government. What is the Government going to do about it? Does it recognise that the Education Act 1998 needs to be amended along the lines we proposed in legislation still on Committee Stage, the Provision of Objective Sex Education Bill 2018, to prevent the religious ethos of a school from standing in the way of children receiving what they are entitled to?

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