One of Ireland’s leading parents’ groups, the National Parents’ Council, has criticised a proposal by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) for children aged as young as 14 to be allowed access to contraception without parental knowledge. The age of consent in Ireland for sex is 17. 

Both the Association of General Practitioners (GPA) and the National Parents’ Council (NPC) have criticised a recommendation made by the Commission that 16- and 17-year-olds, and in some cases, children as young as 14, should be able to consent to and refuse medical treatment, including contraception, subject to certain conditions.

Responding to the proposal, the NPC said that it had serious concerns about handing over decision-making powers in relation medical and health matters to 15-to 17-year-olds.

“Parents have an important role to play in the lives of children between the ages of 14 and 18,” NPC spokeswoman Rose Tully said.

And a spokesperson for the GPA spokesperson said that children who have an idea of what is in store medically are the exception, rather than the rule. 

The paper, to be launched tonight by Minister for Children Barry Andrews, comes just days after the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) reported that nearly a third of teenage girls had reported coming under pressure to have sex.

The findings were announced at the launch of a campaign to encourage teenagers to delay sexual activity. The campaign’s website, www.b4udecide.ie, warns of the negative consequences of early sexual activity. 

The CPA also pointed to the fact that it was “a myth” that most teenagers were having sex before the age of consent. Professor Hannah McGee of the Royal College of Surgeons said that the majority of Irish young people wait until they are 17 or over to have sex. 

The LRC’s paper, dealing with legal issues around medical treatment for children, recommends that 16- and 17-year-olds should be presumed to have full capacity, based on a functional test of understanding. 

Teenagers at this age ought to be able to consent to, and refuse, medical treatment including surgery and have access to contraception, according to the paper. 

The paper drew on consultation with 15-18-year-olds held with the help of the Ombudsman for Children. 

Healthcare professionals should grant teens aged 16-18 the opportunity to express their views, and give those views due weight, depending on the age and maturity of the child, the commission recommends. 

A 16-year-old should be presumed to have capacity to consent to healthcare and medical treatment. 

A child aged 14-16 could, subject to certain requirements, be regarded as capable of consenting to healthcare provided he or she had the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the treatment. 

The requirements include that the medical practitioner should encourage the child to inform his or her parents or guardians, must consider the best interests of the patient and have due regard to any public health concerns.