Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education. This week we heard reports of a school that, in correspondence with the parents its students, stated its relationships and sexuality education, RSE, programme will not include contraception or LGBTQI+ relationships, or what it called "same sex friendships". I will quote from the letter that was sent from that school to the parents, although I do not want to personalise the issue. While this school made the newspapers in this instance, similar issues are happening in schools throughout the country. The letter states:

Teachers do not cover topics such as contraception and same sex friendships. Children who ask questions in class on content outside the designated curriculum are encouraged to discuss the issue with their parents.

I reiterate this is not an isolated problem. Schools are caught between the power of their patrons and the needs of their students.

We have a role as legislators and we are failing to support schools to prioritise the needs and rights of their students to access adequate, age-appropriate RSE, not to mention the right of staff members in schools to be able to teach without fear and without feeling at odds with the patron of their school because of their sexual orientation. The Irish National Teachers Organisation's, INTO, equality survey report of 2020 found that only 18% of respondents from the Republic of Ireland and 12% of respondents from the North were able to be out to their school communities in terms of whom they love and engage with over the weekends.

In 2017, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights published an issue paper on women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. It included recommendations for the provision of comprehensive sex education that was mainstream, mandatory, standardised and scientifically accurate. This is not happening in our country. Instead, poor sex education has become a rite of passage in Ireland, with seemingly little political will to change that or to vindicate the rights of our young people.

I expect the response of the Minister of State will highlight the work of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, over recent years in respect of RSE, but that work will be redundant if we do not address the issue of school ethos. Every student in the country has a right to, and deserves, accurate and age-appropriate RSE, and every teacher has the right to be able to express himself or herself in the staff room in terms of instructions. We in the Social Democrats brought forward a Bill last year seeking to standardise relationships and sexuality education in our schools, in response to which the Minister for Education told us it would be brought back before the House after nine months for a Second Reading, although I am not confident that will be the case. While I fully appreciate it is not a matter for the Minister of State's Department, I will be interested to hear his response in that regard.

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