A local Independent TD says that her offices are seeing a significant increase in the number of parents and educators contacting her about the inappropriate content of books on recommended reading lists for primary and post-primary school children.
TD for Laois-Offaly, Carol Nolan, was speaking following the removal of the controversial ‘This Book is Gay’ by author Juno Dawson from the Junior Cycle SPHE (Social, Personal and Health Education) recommended reading list.
The book was recommended to pre-teen children despite the fact that it contains sexually explicit imagery and language around how to engage in oral and anal sex as well as advice on how to utilise dating and so-called sex apps.
Deputy Nolan said: “Someone somewhere made a conscious decision to include this book on a state approved and state supported recommended reading list for very young children.
“That decision was then signed off, and parents are now rightly asking who that was and how such decisions could have been made.
“They want accountability because they simply cannot understand the mindset that thought this was age-appropriate educational material.
“They are not satisfied with the removal of the book from the Junior Cycle recommended reading list, although they do welcome that.
“I have asked the Minister for Education to engage with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the HSE in order to conduct a review of all SPHE recommended reading lists to ensure that the material being recommended to children is age-appropriate.
“As a former educator myself I am aware of the benefit of guiding children on their journeys and of accompanying them as they begin to become aware of their personal development.
“But I am also deeply conscious that we must match this approach with a desire to do so in partnership with parents as the primary educators.
“We must work together to protect the innocence of children and not to expose them to graphic sexual material before they have the capacity to absorb or contextualise that information in a healthy way.
“These are basic and fundamental principles that many parents feel are not just being lost but are being derided and mocked.
“We have to push back against this approach and instead work in collaboration for the best interests of our children.”
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