Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want the Minister, Deputy Foley, to come here to address this House on the junior cycle SPHE curriculum and explain to the parents of Ireland what materials are taught to 12- to 15-year-olds in our schools. We need clarity on it. Every WhatsApp group in the country has watched videos over the weekend in relation to it. The material used and approved by the NCCA, and the delivery of teacher training by Oide at DCU, must be put under the spotlight here. If the media are not going to do it, us politicians need to do it. At this moment in time, the Minister and the Department of Education are breaching the Children First Act 2015, which clearly states that examples of child abuse, as laid out by the then Minister, Katherine Zappone, in the guidelines, include the following: "showing sexually explicit material to children, which is often a feature of the grooming process by perpetrators of abuse" and "exposing a child to inappropriate or abusive material through information and communication technology." From what we have seen in those videos this weekend, the Minister is breaking that Act and she needs to be held accountable for it. It is not right. Please, let us have that debate here in this Chamber.

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Craughwell.