I would like to join with others in extending congratulations to the Minister for Justice and her husband on the arrival of their new baby and extend very warm wishes to them. The Tánaiste said that people have to see it to be it. There is no doubt that the Minister for Justice has provided a very good example in that regard. We also need to see it from Government in terms of making provision for senior politicians in respect of the provision of supports during pregnancy and the early months of motherhood. We look forward to that, particularly in the context of the findings of the Citizens' Assembly at the weekend. We look forward to early action from the Government in that regard.

A new relationships and sexuality education, RSE, programme for Catholic primary schools was published this week, as the Tánaiste knows. It was developed by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference. The programme, in its introduction, states that when discussing LGBTQ+ issues with children, "the Church's teaching in relation to marriage between a man and a woman cannot be omitted". We know what that teaching is. Relationships between men and women are natural. LGBTQ+ relationships are "intrinsically disordered".

As recently as last month, incredibly, the Vatican reaffirmed that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions because God "cannot bless sin". That is the church's position. Let us not pretend otherwise. However, it is not the State's position or the public's position. We had a marriage equality referendum in this country in 2015 which passed by a huge majority. Same-sex marriage is every bit as valid as a heterosexual marriage.

Teaching children that relationships can be placed in a hierarchy depending on sexual orientation should be anathema in any modern republic. Do we really want LGBTQ+ children who may be struggling with their sexual orientation to be taught in schools that their relationships are in any way less worthy, meaningful, loving or deserving of respect than their heterosexual peers? That is the inference of this programme.

This is an issue that does not just affect children. Speaking at the INTO's annual conference at the start of the month, its vice president Joe McKeown said that up to 4,000 LGBTQ+ teachers are hiding their sexual orientation because they feared their jobs or promotion prospects would be harmed if their school patrons discovered their true identity.

The Tánaiste may say that Catholic schools have an ethos but sex education needs to be fact-based. Facts do not have an ethos. Can he tell me why in 2021 RSE for Irish children is being developed by Catholic bishops and not the National Council for Curriculum Assessment? Why has the Minister for Education remained silent on this? What is the Government going to do to ensure pluralism in our schools and that we teach our children mutual respect?

I thank Deputy Shortall for raising this important matter. The programme for Government is explicit on this and states that the Government will develop inclusive and age-appropriate curricula for RSE and social, personal and health education, SPHE, across primary and post-primary schools, including an inclusive programme on LGBTI+ relationships. That is the Government's policy and position, and it is what we expect to be upheld in publicly funded schools.

As things stand, all schools have to have an RSE policy and that has to be developed in consultation with school management, parents, teachers and students, as appropriate. A school's programme for RSE is developed and taught in the context of the school's RSE policy. The ethos of the school should never preclude learners from acquiring knowledge about the issues involved but may influence how the content is treated.

Access to sexual and health education is an important right for students and is a mandatory part of the curriculum in all primary and post-primary schools for junior cycle. RSE is required at all levels from primary through senior cycle and the Department has set out the content for each of these programmes in SPHE syllabuses and guidelines. The primary level SPHE curriculum currently used in schools was published in 1999. Its purpose is to foster the personal development, health and well-being of the individual child to help him or her to create and maintain supportive relationships and to enable children to make safe and healthy decisions now and into the future. All schools are required to have an RSE policy that is developed in consultation with the school community, including management, parents, teachers and students, as appropriate. A school's programme for RSE is developed and taught in the context of its RSE policy. It is important to note that the ethos of the school should never preclude learners from acquiring knowledge about the issues, but ethos may influence how it is treated, as I have said.

In April 2018, a review of RSE in schools was announced. The report was published by the NCCA on 11 December 2019. The NCCA was asked to look at a number of specific issues regarding RSE and the curriculum, developments in respect of contraception, healthy, positive sexual expression and relationships, safe use of the Internet and social media, relationships and self-esteem and also LBGTQ+ matters. The immediate focus of the work was on creating support materials for teachers to support effective teaching and learning linked to the current curriculum. This work is progressing well and the first section of the toolkit, a portal repository of teaching and learning resources linked to the primary SPHE curriculum, the SPHE junior certificate short course and the SPHE framework, has been published and the second section is due to be published at the end of April. In tandem with the development of the online toolkit, preparation for redeveloping the SPHE curriculum has begun, with an initial focus on the junior cycle.

I thank the Tánaiste. It would be helpful if we had a statement from him, the Minister for Education or the Taoiseach on the new programme that has been developed. Many people would have serious difficulty with it and it would be helpful to hear what the Government's position is on it.

There are 2,800 Catholic primary schools in the country, accounting for 90% of primary schools. Does the Tánaiste know how many schools transferred patronage from either the Catholic Church or the Church of Ireland to multidenominational patronage since 2016? It was eight schools. Last year, just one school in the entire year was divested. That was from Church of Ireland to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board. The snail's pace of the divestment programme is clearly untenable. It is wrong that the church is given a choice about the type of education children receive but Irish parents are not. As long as the church controls 90% of schools, that choice will be absent. This must change as a matter of urgency. What does the Government propose to do about it?

It is true that transfer of patronage has been very slow in the past couple of years but it is also important that transfer of patronage, where it occurs, should be done with consent. In my constituency we have a reasonable mix of schools, including community national schools, Educate Together national schools, Catholic diocese schools and a Church of Ireland school. When one talks to parents, many of them say they like the model they have and the way their school works. It is a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" or "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater".

It is important that we listen to parents and students, where appropriate, and ask them what model of education they want. One will often find that there are children and families from a diversity of backgrounds attending the local parish Catholic diocese school who are not looking for a change in patronage. They like the school and the way it operates and they do not want it to change fundamentally. We need to bear that in mind also. Very often, migrants who come to Ireland want to send their child to the local Catholic parish school because to them that is integration.

To come back to the Deputy's question on sex education, the Minister and Government will make a statement on that. We need to make a statement on it because the programme for Government is very clear that when it comes to this matter it has to be inclusive of LGBTI relationships.