Bruton's comments on sex booklets 'unhelpful'

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has described as "poorly informed" and "most unhelpful" comments made by the former taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, on a new series of sex education booklets due to have been published this week.

The booklets, produced by the IFPA and the North Eastern Health Board, were withdrawn pending a review by the health board of their content. This followed criticism from a number of people, including Mr Bruton, who claimed the booklets did not clearly state the age of consent for sexual activity.

But Ms Catherine Heaney, chief executive of the IFPA, said: "It would have been helpful if Mr Bruton had actually read the booklets before he cast judgment . . . Clearly he is unaware that one of the books actually states that 'it's against the law for a man to have sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 17'."

The booklets also state "your body is yours to share it with, whoever you choose". However, Ms Heaney said, "this sentence appears in a paragraph which discusses homosexuality and bisexuality . . . If Deputy Bruton has difficulty with different forms of sexuality, he should be upfront about it."

But Mr Bruton stood over his criticism of the booklets, saying their entire tenor is "laissez-faire".

"I regret to say that I have concluded that the IFPA are not the right people to be preparing tax-funded leaflets on sexual relations for distribution to 12-to 16-year-olds. They lack sufficient common sense, and sufficient social and moral judgment for such a sensitive and important task."

He added: "I have not made any comment about different forms of sexuality and the IFPA's attempt to introduce this into the debate at this stage is simply to divert from their own admitted mistakes in the way they prepared the leaflets."