The Department of Education's programme of relationships and sexuality education (RSE) is not gettng the political backing which it needs. Both the present Minister for Education, Micheal Martin, and his predecessor, Niamh Bhreathnach, are responsible for strangling the programme in a needlessly complicated consulting process, the main effect of which has been to placate the doctrinal concerns of the Catholic authorities.

The upshot is that parents who favour a straightforward programme of sexuality education, free of religious undertones, are being placed in an impossible position. Last summer the Catholic bishops issued their policy statement, Relationships and Sexuality Education in Catholic Schools. Its basic message was unambiguous: "The Catholic school, in the formulation of its policy, should reflect Catholic moral teaching on sexual matters. Even more fundamentally, it needs to be specific in excluding approaches which are inconsistent with the very foundations of Christian moral thought."

Another statement in the document was equally off-putting for parents who are out of sympathy with the Catholic view of sexuality. "The teacher will not attempt to build respect for the views of others on the false and fragile base of thinking that it does not much matter what one's view is, so long as it is sincere."

As Minister, Martin welcomed the document in a newsletter subsequently published by his department. He stated that RSE should be provided "within the context of the core values and ethos of the individual school." This is not surprising, given that he is currently presenting an Education Bill to the Dail, which will have the effect of copperfastening denominational control of the education system.

In the circumstances of the Irish education system, parents who would be critical of Catholic church teachings find themselves in a vulnerable position by virtue of having small children attending the schools and of not wishing to cause offence. This is true for non-religious parents, non-practising Catholics and, on the subject of RSE, a large body of mainstream Catholic parents who differ with the hierarchy's position on contraception and priestly celibacy. There is no way that the misgivings of such parents can be aired in the present structures of the system.

The present Minister's support for the Catholic hierarchy's position on RSE has other worrying implications. Is the programme being introduced with something less than full commitment? Only time will tell, but in the face of a glowing report in last week's Education & Living, I would prefer to remain sceptical.

Author of the pamphlet, In Defence of RSE as a Separate Secular Subject in Irish Schools.