Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As are you, Senator Buttimer. I second Senator Sherlock's amendment to the Order of Business. As the Leader of the Seanad will know, the Joint Committee on Gender Equality met this morning to discuss the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality relating to norms and stereotypes and education.

The Minister, Deputy Foley, addressed the committee and, while her opening remarks painted a very positive picture and while she spoke about catering for all learners and about relationships and sexuality education being a right, as the Minister knows, the reality is that one in three students have not received any form of relationships and sexuality education at senior cycle. That statistic comes from a recently published Irish Second-Level Students' Union, ISSU, survey. As ever, I commend the union's work.

As everyone here will know, people have been crying out for action and change in this area for many years. People, including me, have grown tired of asking. It is particularly upsetting to know that whether gender-diverse students or students with same-sex attraction get the education they need about health relationships is a lottery, although it is important to note that this very much applies to all students.

As the ISSU says, the curriculum focuses more on biology than on consent. The Minister referenced the reviews taking place and those that are in the pipeline and committed to writing to the committee to detail them. We need clear dates for the reviews and for their implementation. However, as I have pointed out, all the reform in the world may still not be enough to ensure equality of opportunity across the board for students. I welcome the fact that the Minister is prepared to use the programme for Government commitment to legislate for inclusive sex education down the line, if necessary. I hope it will not be necessary and that we can do this without legislation.