A radical new sex curriculum should be imposed on all schools irrespective of their ethos, according to a report that was launched yesterday.
The Oireachtas education committee wants to see a radical overhaul of existing relationships and sexuality education to reflect a more ‘modern’ Ireland. This would include teaching children about abortion and gender ideology.
They recommend that changes be imposed on schools even where the values of the new curriculum flatly contradict the values of the school. The changes would also require the stripping away of legislative protections for Catholic, protestant and other religious schools.
The Irish Independent called it a ‘radical shake up of sex education’, while the Times Ireland edition carried a front page headline that said ‘Get faith out of sex education’. That headline was particularly ironic as the programme seems intent on the opposite, namely, ‘imposing radical gender theory on faith education’.
Committee chairperson, Fianna Fáil TD Fiona O’Loughlin however denied that there was a conflict between the approach of religious bodies and the committee. She said that the committee learned that some of the best sex education was in Catholic schools. Green Party TD and former teacher Catherine Martin said: “what we’re trying to achieve, is not a them versus us. This is about the children in our education system and this is about putting their well-being front and centre and at the heart of education and that’s really what needs to happen.”
