5. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth the arrangements in place for parents and parent representative organisations to raise concerns directly with her Department regarding the national education curriculum and provision of educational resources; and the frequency with which she personally meets with such bodies. [54436/26]

Sentiment score: 0.00

What arrangements are in place for parents and parents' representative organisations to raise concerns directly with the Department regarding the national education curriculum and the provision of resources such as books, etc.? How frequently does the Minister meet with these organisations, stakeholders and parental bodies?

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Confidence in our education system depends on quality resources but parents remain seriously concerned about inappropriate material that is being promoted in our schools, libraries, etc. Concerns have been raised in relation to the book What's the T? by Juno Dawson, which contains sexually explicit material and was promoted to children by Children's Books Ireland and RTÉ. It received significant publish backlash, and rightly so. It has been reported that a teacher raised concerns with the Department in an email back in March 2023, and indeed the former Minister for justice, Charlie Flanagan, raised this personally with the Minister's predecessor in December 2023. Despite those concerns being raised, the book remained recommended as a good resource for children. Very plainly, what has the Department done since this controversy broke? What review has happened? Can the Minister outline to the House the results of that review, if it took place at all?

Sentiment score: 0.21

Is the Minister aware of the controversy surrounding the What's the T? book by Juno Dawson? Is she aware that the book was promoted by Children's Books Ireland? That is very important. The idea that the Minister would say she is basically not responsible is, I believe, questionable. She is the Minister for education; the buck stops with her. For her to say she is not responsible is unacceptable, in my view. The Minister has such an enormous responsibility for the children of this country and if it is the case that there is inappropriate material being promoted to children, she actually is responsible and it is her job, I believe, to make sure that never happens again and that there are robust processes in place to make sure no child will be subjected to sexually explicit, age-inappropriate material in our schools and libraries and promoted by Children's Books Ireland and RTÉ.

Sentiment score: 0.13

Is the Minister aware of the What's the T? book?

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