Hot words at council’s meeting on sex and gender identity
A motion calling on the Minister for Children to remove parts of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum from schools sparked a heated debate at the January SDCC meeting.
Clondalkin councillor Linda De Courcy (IndIre) claimed that portions of the SPHE deal with “sex, pornography and gender identity in horrendously explicit and wholly inappropriate terms for 12- to 15-year-old children.”
She said a video of a woman masturbating was allegedly to be shown to students of that age and that they were asked to engage in such discussions as part of the SPHE.
The motion and its claims received backlash from most of the chamber, from Tallaght councillor Mick Duff (Ind) calling it “complete and utter fiction,” to Tallaght councillor Niamh Whelan (SF) saying it was “nothing more than a dog whistle.”
“Pornography is readily available at [teenagers’] fingertips,” said Cllr Whelan.
“Anyone who wants to teach them respect, responsibility, boundaries, what is wrong and right in a relationship, particularly around sex and consent is welcome to do so,” she added.
Several councillors mentioned having read the SPHE textbook “cover to cover” before the discussion and not having found any of the “age inappropriate” parts Cllr De Courcy mentioned.
“This motion was not fact-checked,” said Palmerstown-Fonthill councillor Niamh Fennell (SF). “The video Cllr De Courcy talks about was part of an educational programme for SPHE teachers and under no circumstances young people would be shown that in our schools.”
Firhouse-Bohernabreena councillor Emma Murphy (FF) brought in her personal experience, highlighting how positive it is for the SPHE programme to be covering gender identity.
“There was never the space for me as a member of the LBGTQ+ community to ever be found within any sexual education programme in this country,” she said.
“We fear what we don’t know we fear what we’re ignorant of.”
Rathfarnham-Templeogue councillor Justin Sinnott (SocDems) and Cllr Duff mentioned all the different public bodies and institutions, including church representatives, who worked together to create the SPHE curriculum as it is today.
“If we were to support this motion, we would be saying that all of those were complicit in promoting pornography to under 18s, which is illegal in this country,” said Cllr Sinnott.
Many councillors agreed that illegal pornography, which teenagers access online through their phone, is the actual issue to be addressed as it is leading to increased sexual violence in that age range in the country.
Rathfranham-Templeogue councillor Ronan McMahon (IND) and Palmerstown-Fonthill councillor Glen Moore (Irish Freedom Party) voted in favour of Cllr De Courcy’s motion.