Seanad debates

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Health Promotion Priorities: Statements

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Phil PrendergastPhil Prendergast (Labour)

——the fact it would frighten the Minister of State. There is significant interest in the area of sexual health. I visit classes from second year to the leaving certificate. There is great interaction because I get many texts afterwards. Naturally, there is great interest. Some will not ask the questions in class but will follow up on something I said.

I do not put a tooth in it, as it were, in the case of sexual health and sexually transmitted infections. I do not give them statistics, the reason being simply that I would fall asleep myself at the mention of them. Instead, I talk about how many in a class of 40 might have the most common sexually transmitted infection — genital warts — or I talk about the dangers of chlamydia and how it can affect their future sexual health in being able to conceive, when that time comes. I also talk about crisis pregnancy and the morning-after pill. It is very relevant and those classes are very pertinent and important. There is a considerable focus, from my perspective, on young people getting the correct information in a non-judgmental way and being able to talk about the difficult questions. The students should be able to talk in their own language about what it is that affects them and the challenges they face.

I do not confine it all to matters sexual. We talk about issues of self-esteem, body image and how one might feel better in oneself. We also talk about issues of same-sex attractions. We talk about all that because the issues arise in the questions I receive in advance of classes.

Obviously, one is constrained by the length of time one has with these students and one cannot deal at length with suicide, which has been covered by Senator Mary White. As a member of the sub-committee, I have a great interest in that area and a great deal of empathy with people who deal with that daily. As the Minister of State can imagine, given the horrific numbers of people who take their own lives every year, we encounter much of that and many who are affected. There is a fear as well that talking about it in school will prompt somebody to do it.

I am well aware that if one can interrupt the sequence of events, it is possible to make a difference. Recently, I attended a conference in Scotland, the 12th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour. There were 750 delegates from 53 countries at the conference. In addition to plenary sessions there were many parallel sessions in 20 minute slots throughout the day. I attended a particularly interesting one. It was about four people who were unsuccessful in completing their suicidal acts. There were four different events and the one that occurred in America made me think hard. It involved a very famous bridge where the outcome of attempted suicide was always a success. The person jumped and in that moment clarity and sanity returned. The person was able to take the necessary action to get into the correct position so as not to die. The rest of the four were similar; they took evasive action at the last minute when sanity and clarity returned.

I do not know if there are easy answers. I was a midwife for many years and I know from conducting those programmes in schools that there is a huge role to be played in educating people properly and perhaps doing it on an informal basis, which is what I do. There is always a great deal of relaxation because the students know I am not a teacher, and we use some different words that perhaps teachers will not use. That is the real world, and I am delighted to be part of that world.

I am delighted to have participated in this debate. I thank the Minister of State for her interest. I hope I have contributed in a positive way to formulating a policy that might best shape the future for our young people and make a difference.

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