I want to raise the issue of the report published last Tuesday by the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, of which I am a member. It is the product of a major body of work with academics, sexual health experts, teachers organisations, bodies representing students and school boards of management. We have made a number of wide-ranging recommendations on curriculum reform that will now be delivered to the Minister for Education and Skills and fed into the review being carried out by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. Our recommendations have at all times been guided by best practice and domestic and international evidence and motivated by wanting to see young people happy, empowered and informed as they explore relationships and sexuality for the first time. It has been over 20 years since the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum was last reviewed and we want to make sure our proposed reforms reflect the huge social and political changes in Ireland during that time, particularly the recent referendums on same-sex marriage and repeal of the eighth amendment.

The report and its recommendations are detailed and comprehensive. I would like to draw the attention of the House to some key changes we have proposed. We want relationships and sexuality education, RSE, and SPHE classes to start at a younger age in primary school and in a developmentally appropriate manner. The use of outside providers is the most common way RSE is delivered to students and we want such providers regulated by the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills. We want teachers to be able to be specialised in RSE. We want RSE to be taught as part of a whole-school approach, with extra resources given to school principals and boards to support it. In terms of the curriculum, we have recommended that LGBTQI education, consent, reproductive healthcare and pornography form part of any new curriculum. We have also called for the amendment of the Education Act 1998 to remove ethos as a barrier to delivering objective and factual sex education. This is a progressive report, proposing some big changes that will benefit students and young people. I would like the Leader to organise a debate in the Seanad on the report in the near future.

On a related note, I ask the Government for an update on the plans to fully commence the Data Protection Act 2018, including the provisions on the micro-targeting of children which Senator Higgins and I worked to include in the legislation.

Like others, I raise the issue of the nurses strike and express support and solidarity with the 30,000 members of the INMO who are striking for the first time in 20 years. I join others in calling on the Government to engage urgently with the INMO to address, in particular, the very valid concerns it has raised about recruitment and retention of nurses and around patient safety in hospitals because of under-staffing as a result of the difficulties with recruitment and retention. As Deputies Howlin, Kelly and others have stated in the Dáil, this engagement can be carried out within the framework of the public service stability agreement, PSSA, particularly in the context of the issues related to recruitment and retention. It is worth noting the Opposition has been calling for a general review of changes in work practices and of additional duties now being taken on by nurses and that such a review should consider, therefore, the issues the INMO has been raising around the increased professionalisation of nursing. I should add I have been contacted, as I am sure Senators Norris and Ruane have, by Trinity nursing graduates who point out to us the huge transformation that has occurred in recent years within the nursing profession, with the increased professionalisation of nursing and the awarding of degrees.

Furthermore, the huge expansion in postgraduate nursing studies has resulted in some incredible research coming out of third level institutions which has really changed the nature of the nursing profession. The Government has been strangely detached on this matter and needs to engage with the INMO, otherwise we will just see more and more hardship for patients whose procedures will be delayed.

I also wish to raise concern about the national children's hospital and the levels of awareness, in particular within the Government, of the cost overruns. We need urgent clarification from the Government on this issue. It raises the question down the road about the cost and the implementation of Sláintecare, which is a real elephant in the room. We see the issue of the national children's hospital and the difficulty bringing it forward in a responsible manner and in accordance with projected costs and then we look at the enormous cost potential of Sláintecare, yet there is a very significant political buy-in to Sláintecare and its proposals. We ask the Leader for clarification from the Government and the Minister for Health on this issue.

I also ask colleagues for support on the parental leave legislation which we will bring forward in the Labour Party's Private Members' time tomorrow. I thank all those colleagues who have assisted us in that regard. My Labour Party colleagues and I, and Senator Norris in the Seanad Technical Group, are putting forward the Bill on Committee Stage. We will table amendments and hope colleagues will support the amendments which are mostly technical simply to ensure the Bill will be straightforward and effective in implementation. We hope the Government will not oppose the Bill on Committee Stage.

We have had a lot of lobbying.

We have had a lot of lobbying and everyone will have received emails from parents. We have had good engagement with the Government and Deputy Shortall who initiated the Bill in the Dáil. As we really want to see the Bill pass Committee Stage tomorrow, I appeal to the Leader and his colleagues to ensure-----

It must be getting near St. Valentine's Day.

Love will break out all over if the Government does not oppose parental leave. It will genuinely make a real difference to the many families who have contacted us and who are so anxious to see the Bill pass for the sake of their quality of life and that of their children.

I wish everyone a happy Markievicz Day. Countess Markievicz was born 151 years ago today. This is the last week of the exhibition about her life in the National Gallery of Ireland and I urge colleagues to go to see it, if they have not already done so.