Northern Ireland Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) plans: Information evening plans to address parental concerns

It comes after a recent event addressing the same concerns attracted some 500 people to the Seagoe Hotel in Portadown.

Organised by DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley and entitled Let Kids Be Kids, the evening included a panel of experts giving their views on what is happening.

The events come after Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris compelled the Department of Education to roll out compulsory Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) plans for all post-primary pupils in NI. The main focus is to educate children on using contraception and acessing abortions.

His plans have been endorsed by the NSPCC and Human Rights Commission but severely criticized by a House of Lords committee for failing to include a normal public consultation. They have also been criticised for apparently forbidding any teaching about faith or ethics - a statutory requirement in RSE in England.

One of the speakers at the Annalong event is former Lisburn and Castlereagh DUP Councillor Nathan Anderson.

"We are holding these events because parents, school staff, and citizens from across the community are concerned over the Secretary of State's proposals for Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)," he told the News Letter.

"We organised the information evenings to educate parents and teachers. They want accurate and up to date information on the law, the materials, and the consultation."

Mr Anderson said the Campaign Against RSE is a group of parents, teachers, grandparents and Christians who are "concerned about state overreach into the lives of individuals and schools and also concerned about radical, extreme and ideological materials being presented to children and adolescents".

The panel will be made up of two representatives from the Campaign Against RSE and a local head teacher, he said.

The organisation held a protest outside the Secretary of State's offices in Belfast on 2 September which police say attracted 1000 people.

Tonight's event is at Mullartown House in Annalong at 7:30PM. Further events are at Templemore Hall in East Belfast on 10 October at 7:30pm and Lisburn Congregational Church on 19 October 2023 at 7:30pm.