Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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549.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to a proposal (details supplied) on education around gambling addiction; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[34425/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Schools have a role to play in supporting their students to develop the key skills and knowledge to enable them to make informed choices when faced with a range of difficult issues, including drugs, alcohol and gambling. This is mainly done through the SPHE programme. SPHE forms part of the mandatory Wellbeing area of learning at Junior Cycle. Wellbeing in Junior Cycle is about young people feeling confident, happy, healthy and connected, and it is one of the principles that underpins Junior Cycle education.

As part of the redevelopment of SPHE/RSE curricula, in line with the Programme for Government, an updated Junior Cycle SPHE specification was published by the NCCA in May 2023 and was rolled out for first years in all schools from last September. It places a strong focus on the development of important life skills that young people need growing up in a fast changing and complex world. The learning outcomes of the Making Healthy Choices strand in the updated specification include that students should be able to "discuss societal, cultural and economic influences affecting young people when it comes to making healthy choices about smoking, alcohol and other addictive substances and behaviours, and how harmful influences can be overcome in real-life situations". In the specification’s Glossary of Key Terms, addictive behaviours are defined as including “gaming, gambling and social media addictions”.

Decisions on which programmes and initiatives, if any, schools participate in are taken at school level. The Department provides guidance to schools on the engagement of outside speakers and on the use of external resources to assist in delivering the curriculum. These guidelines are most recently outlined in updated circular 0042/2018 for primary schools and 0043/2018 for post primary schools. These circulars require that all materials proposed for use by external providers must be approved in advance by the principal and Board of Management, be age and stage appropriate for pupils and be in line with the ethos of the school, and the principles of the Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum.