Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2023-03-07
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

The Taoiseach's announcement yesterday that primary school children as young as nine or ten years old should be taught about transgenderism shocked many people. The RED C poll and the Ireland Thinks poll suggest that the majority of people believe children in primary school are too young to be taught about transgenderism. Their research indicates that most people in this country believe children are too young to grapple with these very strong and important issues. Everybody wants to have compassion at the heart of the education system but we also need common sense. We have a duty of care for children. Parental choice and consent must also be components of the education system. Gender dysphoria is not easy. Children should be treated with compassion and support but this must be evidence-based. There is a growing number of experts who have said that the approach of this Government on these issues is not evidence-based. Have the Department of the Taoiseach or the Department of Education carried out research on the effect on primary school children of material on transgenderism being taught in the classroom?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-03-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-03-07