Letters to the Editor: Catholic sex education won't help children flourish

Extremely concerned about the new ‘Flourish’ programme in primary schools

Our correspondent says parents, teachers and principals should fully read the ‘Flourish’ programme and consider if a programme on sexuality and relationships is the best place to be including God.

I am a secondary school teacher of SPHE and I find myself extremely concerned about the new ‘Flourish’ programme intended to cover relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in primary schools as an accompaniment to the social, personal, and health education curriculum.

This programme, developed by the Catholic Bishops Conference, aligns
a central part of the wellbeing programme for our children with a Catholic ethos.

I have two issues with this approach:

1. The conflating of a religious programme with relationships and sexuality education. In every single aspect of ‘Flourish’, God and/or Jesus is mentioned. This is not a thorough and scientifically accurate programme
as recommended by research. It is a programme that is designed to further the teachings of the Catholic Church.

2. The failure to align the teaching of RSE in primary and secondary schools. This approach goes against the recommendation that the programme is taught in a spiral manner from primary through to secondary school with greater depth given to similar topics as the students grow and mature. ‘Flourish’ will result in a disconnect between a religious approach taken in the 90% of primary schools under Catholic management and the non religious approach taken by secondary schools to RSE.

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I would be strongly of the opinion that the programme proposed here is one that is more damaging to the long- term health and well-being of our children. It will cause confusion between sexuality and relationships, and religion; a confusion that will echo throughout their lives as they mature and explore their own sexuality.

I would strongly urge the Government to take action on the Objective Education Bill, which has been stalled at the committee stage in the Dáil since 2018. I would also urge parents, teachers and principals to fully read the ‘Flourish’ programme and consider if a programme on sexuality and relationships is the best place to be including God. The programme does have merit in the values it teaches, but these values are not the sole remit of the Catholic Church and do not need the catechetical framework that this programme seeks to impose.

Máire de Barra

Fermoy

Co Cork

Global economics need attention too

Since the inauguration of Joe Biden as president of the USA, environmentalists demanding change to how we treat Mother Nature and protect the animal, vegetable and mineral resources of this good earth have raised their game substantially.

They are to be applauded but they fail to recognise that even more urgent and important than reducing carbon emissions and waste, is the need to restore economics which function for all in an unprecedented technological age.

Padraic Neary

Tubbercurry

Co Sligo

Political photo ops tops animal rights

Dublin Zoo remains the photoshoot to beat all photoshoots when it comes to the tiresome and never-ending popularity contest between the leaders of the political parties.

There’ll be fans of the zoo outlining the ‘important educational role’ and the ‘vital conservation role’ of the zoo, but really these claims don’t add up to much when held up to what is essentially the entire raison d’être of the zoo: to attract as many paying visitors as possible to come and gawk at the animals.

I’ll know the journey towards true respect for the rights of animals will be making progress when these silly and degrading political visits become toxic instead of what they continue to be today: a terrific photo opportunity.

Gerry Boland

Keadue

Co Roscommon

Outdoor areas destroyed by litter

If people destroy the outdoors with litter in a public place, then they deserve to have photos taken of them. Why don’t people know the right thing to do without having to be spoon-fed like a child?

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There should be no public drinking allowed when many pubs have outdoor — and supervised — beer gardens.

Even where bins are provided they’re not being used. If there are no bins, people should use their own bags.

Long before Covid, I had often seen litter dumped at beautiful spots. What must foreigners think of us?

Dr Florence Craven

Bracknagh

Co Offaly

Light at the end of lockdown tunnel

I was discussing the lockdown with some friends recently (socially distanced, of course) when one of them expressed his pleasure at the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then the other guy said: “As long as our government does not decide to borrow some more money for a tunnel extension.”

Richard Barton

Maynooth

Co Kildare

Former Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, who announced yesterday he is to step away from political life for a career in international affairs. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

By-election cost borne by taxpayer

Being absolutely non-party political, I have nothing against Eoghan Murphy, who has just announced that he is resigning from the Oireachtas. However, this gives rise to a by-election, the administration of which will be borne by the taxpayer. This has happened many times before. Surely it is time for legislation to the effect that if a sitting member of the Oireachtas steps down for any reason other than incapacity or illness, they will be legally liable for the administrative costs of the resulting by-election.

Brendan Casserly

Bishopstown

Cork

Eoghan Murphy making his move

It is reported that former housing minister Eoghan Murphy will pursue
a career in international affairs.

Good luck to him and the organisation which employs him.

Michael A Moriarty

Rochestown

Cork

No dogs allowed in beautiful gardens

I was delighted to read about the re-opening of Mount Congreve on April 29 — GardenNotes (Irish Examiner, Property, April 26) — but one really
important fact was missing. Does Mount Congreve allow dogs? Sad to say, like some other beautiful gardens, no dogs are allowed.

Worse than that, their website states that dogs may be walked around the car park, meaning that they must be confined to cars afterwards. There is no way you can secure your car leaving enough ventilation for a pet on a dull day, let alone a hot sunny one

.

Judy Cassells

via email

Ireland must help with India’s crisis

The scale of death and suffering of the 1.3bn people of India due to the Covid pandemic is beyond human comprehension and according to the World Health Organisation their situation is ‘beyond heartbreaking’.

Local people claim that official deaths are vastly underestimated while local elections and mass Hindu religious festivals are allowed to continue. The federal government response has been negligent as it continues to sit on the fence and acts as a passive onlooker at the annihilation of its own people.

Besides offering our solidarity with the Indian people, Ireland, with its seat on the UN Security Council, should show moral and political leadership in providing the people of India with generous material help in their hour of crisis. Airports are packed with empty planes so why not act now. Is féidir linn.

Brendan Butler

Malahide

Co Dublin

Funding needed for wildlife services

How heartbreaking to see the destruction wrought on the scenic wonderland that is Killarney National Park, ravaged by a fire that may have been started deliberately. Precious wildlife habitats were wiped out by the blaze, and many birds and animals will have perished in the flames.

And this ecological disaster comes hot on the heels of reports confirming that more than 300 different wildlife species in Ireland are threatened with permanent extinction.

While we can all be proud of the dedication of those, including the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) personnel, who have fought to save the remainder of the park from obliteration, we need to be aware that the NPWS has been shamefully underfunded. Successive governments have seen fit to allocate it only a fraction of the funding received by the horse and greyhound racing sector

I hope the present government, with its light shade of green, will stop pandering to backwoods lobbies that care nothing for our biodiversity or the wellbeing of wild animals and birds. Otherwise, what remains of our wildlife heritage will soon resemble the charred remnants of Killarney National Park.

John Fitzgerald

Callan

Co Kilkenny