Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews has said he personally supports lowering of the legal age of consent to 16.
Speaking at the publication of proposals by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) that older teenagers should have more rights over any medical treatment they receive, Mr Andrews said the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution recommended the legal age be reduced to 16 from the current 17, to make it “the same as almost everywhere in Europe and Northern Ireland”.
If the Government accepted the reduction, it would require a rethink on other issues, and “I support on a personal level, to reduce the age of consent to 16”, to reflect reality, he said.
The LRC proposes that 16- and 17-year-olds should be allowed to consent to and refuse medical treatment including surgery and contraception.
It also proposes that 14-and 15-year olds should be allowed to make their own decisions about medical treatment provided they understand the nature and consequences of the treatment. This would also include access to contraception without their parents’ knowledge or permission. The Minister stressed that the document was provisional and required debate.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Andrews said “many people under 17 have had sexual intercourse and I think we need to update our laws to reflect these facts”.
The Minister said the proposals dealt with very sensitive areas such as “a child who presents with a mental health issue and doesn’t want their parents to know, or possibly their parents are the cause of the problem” and the issue was “whether the practitioner can do anything without the parents’ involvement”.
He also referred to the refusal of treatment for people with “life-limiting conditions, who would perhaps choose not to receive treatments”.
Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, chairwoman of the Law Reform Commission, said there was a large number of 16-18 year-olds “who are living adults lives and are anxious to have medical treatment in a confidential manner”.
Earlier this month the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) launched a campaign to encourage teenagers to delay sexual activity.
In launching their campaign, the CPA said that it was “a myth” that the majority of teenagers were having sex before 17. The average age of first sexual intercourse for young people in this country is 17.
The Agency also warned that those who engaged in early sexually activity were more likely to have abortions, contract sexually transmitted diseases and to regret their first sexual experience.
The CPA also said that nearly a third of teenage girls and eight per cent of boys reported coming under pressure to have sex before they were ready.