Minister for Health Simon Harris has applauded the decision [1] by a Dublin Educate Together school to cancel plans for a Catholic agency to give RSE talks [2].
Accord is a marriage counselling organisation attached to the Bishops’ Conference. It teaches about contraception in a morally-neutral way and it counsels couples in same-sex marriages. It receives State funding.
Accord had delivered the programme at the school for the past number of years but their presence was protested by parents and outside groups such as Atheist Ireland, and the People before Profit TD, Ruth Coppinger.
Minister Harris tweeted his approval of the move calling it “positive news”. He added that RSE should never be delivered from an ethos-based perspective: “Sexual and relationship health is integral to overall health and wellbeing. Important our children have access to unbiased information. We must respect religious belief but all health education must always be based on facts, not ethos.”