Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad today. I am delighted we are finally getting a chance to debate this really important report from January by the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, a report that I was delighted to contribute to, along with other Deputies and Senators.

As the mother of a child of schoolgoing age who had to remove her from the classroom while particular agencies came in to give sex education, it was something that was really important to me. Also, I have given talks over the years in different spaces on the role of sex positive parenting and teaching our children to be able to engage in negotiated positive sexual experiences without feeling a huge shadow of shame, guilt or like they are doing something wrong because of misinformation that they received in school.

This report on reforms to relationships and sexuality education in Irish schools came about as a direct result of ancillary recommendation No. 3.20. by the special Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, of which I was also a member, which called for a thorough review of this area in light of the clear and documented evidence presented to us that showed objective and factual sex education has a clear role in reducing rates of unintended and crisis pregnancies. I am glad that this was the catalyst for our work as it very much placed our examination of sex education reform within a human rights and reproductive rights framework, and it placed the best interests of children and students at its heart, a perspective I feel was reflected throughout our report and recommendations.

The Irish record on sex education is poor. Due to the widespread religious patronage and involvement of religious orders in the delivery of our State education system, most historical sex education experiences of people in Ireland were delivered with a Catholic ethos, which, unfortunately, was moralistic, inaccurate and had an unrealistic focus on zero tolerance abstinence. It cannot be overstated just how important getting this area right is for our kids, schools and the future of society. Giving children factual, objective and complete information on how to manage their romantic and sexual relationships will determine how they approach these relationships and each other for their entire lives. As a result, our national policies and their implementation have to be robust, comprehensive and, insofar as possible, the same in every school in the country.

In the report we took a modular approach over four meetings that spanned May to July 2018. The report was written with the intention of supporting the review under way in the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, which conducts detailed policy and curriculum work and which, I acknowledge, published a draft in this area before the summer.

We took a broad perspective throughout the report of focusing on the importance of objective and factual information, independent of the ethos of the school, and for age and developmentally appropriate methods to be used. We wanted to ensure that discussions of sex education were not just made in terms of risk and disease but were also a positive framing of sex, so that sexual experiences would also be possible and encouraged. We also wanted to broaden the focus to be beyond just the biological aspects of sex education and to be on the importance of psycho-social approaches, where students would not just be taught solely in biological terms about sex but be taught to deal with issues like identifying abuse in a relationship, dealing with the break-up of a relationship, or supporting a peer in crisis. We made it clear that the connection with related mental health issues needed to be made, such as anxiety, body image, body dysmorphia, confidence, eating disorders, and addiction, as well as focusing on the positive framing of good mental health.

A consistent theme from witnesses was the need for sexual consent to form an integral part of all sex education reforms, as well inclusivity of all types of relationships, sexual orientations and gender identities within the curriculum. In addition, crucially, we heard strong evidence on school ethos being cited by schools as justification for not providing factual information or for delivering the curriculum outside of best practice. We also heard compelling testimony on the sex education needs of children and adults of those with an intellectual disability and how they are often seen as eternal children devoid of sexuality. We also heard about their rates of sexually transmitted infection, STI, contraction and the massive inadequacies in their sex education currently.

We made 24 really important recommendations to the Minister for Education and Skills and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to inform reforms in this area. We made recommendations on curriculum reform, implementation and delivery. A broader whole-school approach is required to change the culture within our schools.

In terms of curriculum reform, we recommended that the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum, in place since 1999, was in need of significant change and that a new curriculum was needed to reflect the significant changes that have taken place in this country over the past 20 years. We recommended that a new curriculum should be gender equality-based, inclusive, holistic, creative, empowering and protective of children's interests and needs. We recommended the creation of a purpose-built RSE module in teacher training to encourage specialisation and professionalisation of this area, and that those with an intellectual disability be included, represented and accounted for.

To reflect the significant support for LGBT equality in the marriage referendum, our recommendation No. 8 reads that the curriculum should be fully inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and the spectrums thereof, and those LGBT relationships should be represented without distinction as to their heterosexual counterparts. We also recommend that consent, pornography and reproductive healthcare form integral parts of the new curriculum.

In terms of the delivery of the subject and implementation of a new curriculum, we heard considerable evidence in this area. As many will be aware, many schools will contract external providers to come into the school to teach RSE.As we discovered, however, there is zero regulation of these providers, and what they teach, by the Department of Education and Skills or the HSE. Many of them are offshoots of religious orders and teach RSE with a Catholic ethos. This leads to inaccurate and moralistic information being given to children. We need these external agencies to be well regulated and to teach to an agreed and standardised curriculum. This needs to happen immediately and the Department must intervene in this regard. In addition, the report is now out of date because it was published nine months ago. We were not able to make recommendations regarding the upcoming Department of Health scheme for free contraception and the need to provide long-acting contraceptives. We were also not able to comment on the pre-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP, programme that is being planned to combat HIV and the need to make the drug available free of charge in a community setting. We endorse these two schemes and commend the Minister on introducing them.

The other main recommendation regarding the implementation and delivery of new and current curriculums has been well debated. It relates to how the religious ethos of a school affects the content and delivery of RSE. As we are aware, more than 90% of State primary schools have a Catholic ethos, which can serve as a real barrier to comprehensive and objective sex education. Section 9 of the Education Act 1998 allows for health education to be given to students "having regard to a characteristic spirit of the school". This provision has been cited as giving schools scope to deliver religious perspectives on sex education, which is at odds with agreed and international best practice. The 14th recommendation in the report calls for the Education Act 1998 to be amended so that ethos can "no longer be used as a barrier to the effective, objective and factual teaching of the RSE and SPHE curriculum to which every student is entitled".

The report calls for these legislative amendments to be made by the end of 2019, which is three months from now. I note that the autumn legislative schedule has no primary legislation signposted for this area. I have to ask, therefore, what progress the Minister and his Department have made in implementing this recommendation. I also note that a Bill introduced by Deputy Coppinger is being blocked. The Deputy's Bill has the express aim of making the legislative amendments the joint committee called for and it is being blocked by the extremely dubious use of the money message mechanism. If the Minister does not have his own primary legislation, how can he continue to justify blocking this Private Members' Bill which has cross-party support in the Dáil? The idea that curriculum reform in this area would incur a cost on the Exchequer is indefensible given that the NCCA is already doing exactly this body of work using funds allocated by the Dáil. I hope the Minister will allow that Bill to proceed to Committee Stage before the Christmas recess.

Children in schools across the country deserve a standardised and objective experience of the new RSE curriculum, one that is largely similar to the curriculum taught in the school down the road. Until the Education Act 1998 is amended, this will simply not be possible. As legislators, we have a pressing responsibility to ensure this is the case.

The joint committee's report is progressive and radical in its scope and important for the future of sexual education for Irish children. Sexual education is not just a class in school. It is part of realising one's own identity and how we can relate to each other. It also has a role to play in tackling issues concerning gender equality, sexual assault and many other areas. I thank all members of the joint committee community and the witnesses who contributed to our work. I hope this report is being taken seriously in the Department and look forward to its implementation.