Debate contribution: Relationships and Sexuality Education

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 22 April 2024.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

22 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Relationships and Sexuality Education

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4484936

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss RSE. Kate Nicholl succinctly and passionately set out the case for the motion, and my colleague Cara Hunter expanded on the need for consent education and clearly described the complexity around coercive control. As many have said, education is absolutely foundational to our society. That much goes without saying. One of the most important forms of education that we can give our children is about the relationships that they will form throughout their lives. Right now, we are not doing right by our young people in any shape, form or fashion; in fact, we are letting them down badly. In countless examples, the teachers who deliver RSE in our schools are dedicated professionals, but, in truth, the system is completely failing to give those teachers the support that they need to deliver that education properly. That is not acceptable and nor is the position that our young people are left in as a consequence. As we speak, in many cases, young people leave school with no idea of what a healthy relationship looks like. We have many schools where the Church's teachings are more influential than the quality of the curriculum. We have pupils who are never taught about consent, abuse or boundaries. That is not good for them, and it is not good for society. As with every part of our children's education, relationships and sexuality education must work for every child. That is why it needs to be accessible and inclusive for every pupil in every classroom. That includes LGBT+ pupils, many of whom have been failed for years by current provision. Eóin Tennyson bravely shared his personal experience, and I thank him for that. In that context, it would be remiss not to talk about those failures. In the Ireland that I grew up in — Ireland in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s — we were given no sexual education worth talking about. Worse than that, we got a twisted version of sex education. Basically, we were told that sex was bad and even thoughts about sex were sinful. Our children and our parents were dictated to by the Church and the state. To this day, we see the damage that has been done to our society. The cruel abuse that many suffered and endured at the hands of religious orders and schools is now well known and acknowledged. This Government — the Executive — are trying to deal with the aftermath of historical and religious institutional abuse, including shocking levels of paedophilia and child rape, as well as sexual violence in the mother-and-baby homes. That remains Ireland's shame: North and South. It is up to the politicians of today to right that wrong, and that starts with learning from our past and giving all our young people an educational journey that meets their needs and teaches them how to navigate healthy relationships. As Colin McGrath highlighted, improving RSE is a safeguarding priority because, if the current model continues, young people will still leave school without an understanding of issues such as consent or the ability to recognise abuse against themselves or someone else when that happens. Connie Egan and Emma Sheerin led the way in talking about ending violence against women and girls. This leads in many instances to the kind of unhealthy attitudes that fuel abuse, particularly against women and girls. Those attitudes are part of a pyramid of violence that can be dismantled only by early education in our schools. That is rightly a key focus of the strategic framework for ending violence against women and girls. Addressing such attitudes and ending violence and abuse later in life is core to a society where gender equality is the reality, and that all starts in schools. There has been a lot of scaremongering in recent months and, indeed, during the debate. That is unacceptable. We have a duty to our children not to stoke fear or spread misinformation but to work with schools and pupils to ensure that we see reform. The curriculum should be about providing age-appropriate, scientifically accurate and comprehensive facts and not about enforcing a moral compass, as we have seen in the past. In some schools, pupils are taught in a context that contributes to stigma —.

715 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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