Sex education should begin at three years old, according to an academic speaking before an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday. The Oireachtas education committee is reviewing how relationships and sexuality education (RSE) is taught in schools and will publish a report recommending how the curriculum can be changed. The wishes of parents have been given little attention in the hearings so far.
Dr Aoife Neary, of the University of Limerick, told the committee that sex education should begin at three when language around consent such as “I don’t like that” should be introduced. At this age, children should be told about family diversity and introduced to the concept of same-sex parents, she said. Dr Neary said that sex education should not be delayed because of concerns about “age appropriateness”.
Sarah Haslam, of the national youth development organisation Foróige, said sex education would not take away a child’s innocence. She said it had a sex education programme that could be adapted by schools while an RSE curriculum was being created.
Niall Behan, head of the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA), said the current RSE curriculum exposed women to the risk of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies, while Ms Neary said the curriculum was silent on gay and transsexual health and this needed to be addressed.
Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland told the committee the abortion referendum “changes everything” as it shows politicians “can no longer assume” that the majority of Catholic parents “want Catholic sex education for their children.”
