Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Just as we concluded the last day, Senator Norris asked me to offer an explanation of the relationship between sexual orientation and heroin addiction. As far as I am aware, there is no connection or relationship between them. I read what I had said and I never mentioned heroin. The point I made was that I am aware of a number of teachers who are single parents and who had their children while teaching and I am also aware of a number of teachers who are homosexual or lesbian. It is a matter of fact that is the case in some our schools, and I am actually talking about Catholic schools.

While this does not apply to either the orientation or the family circumstances of any individual teacher, it is imperative that a teacher is not allowed to promote either a lifestyle or an ethos which is contrary to the ethos of the school, if it is a Catholic school. It is also very important that nothing we do in legislation impedes the removal of a teacher where that teacher is failing in his or her responsibilities to give proper education to the children.

I would like to give absolute clarity where teaching capacity is affected with an example from my primary school days, which was a decade or two ago now. We had a teacher in second class and in fourth class who would arrive in the morning, in particular in the winter, with a hangover. We all knew we were in for some difficulties. He would use the side of the ruler on cold hands. His teaching and his attitude to the classroom were seriously affected by his drinking. At the time we were too young to appreciate the effects of the disease of alcoholism. Unfortunately, that poor man went on to suffer grievously from the alcoholism and subsequently committed suicide, which was very sad.

All I am saying is that anything we do in these circumstances should not, in any way, result in a situation where people can hide behind what might appear to be discriminatory and where the school has great difficulty prioritising the children and, if necessary, taking whatever action is necessary against a teacher. It is important that is the case. Parents have a greater right than we have to an input into the quality and type of education their children receive.

The Eileen Flynn case is often mentioned in these debates. Invariably, I find it is mentioned by people who really do not know anything about the case. All they have are the headlines. I knew Eileen and I know her partner. Eileen was a very fine person who I, and many people locally, liked and her untimely death was very sad. Eileen's issues were not so much about the fact she was pregnant but about the parents intervening because of concerns for their children and where they threatened to remove their children if the school failed to act. I will not go into the difficulties involved, which local people know. However, what I will say is that in 1985, I was running in the local elections and RTE sent a crew to New Ross to cover them. It selected New Ross because her partner was running, I think, for Sinn Féin. I recall going to a local establishment, which we usually frequented after our meetings, one evening and I was told the RTE crew had been there earlier that evening before it left to go to Wexford. It said it was never as ashamed of its profession as it was following what it discovered about the situation in New Ross, which was totally misrepresented in the national media.

On a positive note, about which I think everybody was very pleased, Eileen subsequently overcame whatever difficulty she was having and ended up teaching in the Christian Brothers school in New Ross and was a very effective and good teacher and a very fine person. If people use scenarios, they should at least go to the trouble of properly researching them.

We have received much representation from different groups, in particular, Atheist Ireland. I said in the past that I think atheists, like people of belief, are people of faith. It takes faith for somebody to believe there is a God and, equally, it takes faith to believe there is no God. In many ways, I feel reassured by Atheist Ireland because if there was no God, there would be nothing in particular to "atheiate" from.

I think the Minister of State's approach to this is correct and I acknowledged that the last day. There is the issue of religious freedom and the right of religious schools to preserve their ethos, in particular where the parents involved want to send their children to schools with that ethos. That must not be interfered with and it is imperative that is protected. There is also the right of people who work in any working environment but, in particular, in schools to be safeguarded against any discriminatory action by their employers where the quality of the job they are doing is good or where their teaching is good.

The challenge for all of us is to find a route that does not discriminate against the employees or against schools with a religious ethos.