Madam, - The other day a 15-year-old student of mine asked me a question to which I had no answer. She asked why the Government wanted to make an already very pressurised life for Irish teenagers even more difficult.
She was, of course, referring to the recommendation from the Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection to lower the age of sexual consent to 16.
Perhaps a member of this committee might volunteer to answer my pupil's query with an explanation that makes sense. Because in my mind and that of many young people this recommendation is nothing short of dangerous. - Yours, etc,
M. FARRELL,
Seaview Terrace,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Madam, - I understand some of the concerns of the Irish Catholic hierarchy on moral and social issues. During a recent visit to Dublin, one of the first scenes I witnessed was a group of drunken 13-year-old girls, wine bottles in hand, accosting older boys.
What I find unacceptable, however, is the bishops' facile assumption that "morality" means "Irish Catholic morality". Not true. I know many women and men of high moral standards, both believers and non-believers, who would not remotely subscribe to Catholic positions on sexual morality. For most of the world, sex is a normal human activity - to be practised with caution and responsibility, to be sure. But referring to sex as "sacred" is an odd distortion of language; sacred is what happens in churches, and not in bedrooms.
There are without doubt serious moral and social issues to be dealt with in Ireland, as any reading of The Irish Times shows. But criminalising consensual sex between 16-year-olds does not remotely address the problems involved. By maintaining extreme positions on sexual morality, which put almost everyone in our society in the wrong, the Catholic Church has lost all of its credibility and influence in matters sexual. What a pity. - Yours, etc,
GERARD MONTAGUE,
Konstanz,
Germany.
A Chara, - I must take issue with the recommendation that the age of sexual consent be lowered to 16. It is rarely that I feel at one with the Catholic Church but in this it is correct. We must not only protect our children from irresponsible adults but more importantly protect them from themselves. What next in 10 years' time? Consensual sex at 14? - Yours, etc,
PAUL DORAN,
Monastery Walk,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
Madam, - In almost 20 years of teaching Relationship and Sexuality Education, one of the questions I have been asked most frequently is: "What's the right age to have sex?" Sixteen is not the correct answer. - Yours, etc,
STEPHANIE WALSH,
Newport,
Co Tipperary.
Madam, - The Catholic Church has expressed alarm at the proposal to lower the age of sexual consent to 16. I too must express alarm that the Catholic Church seems to think it has the right to take the moral high ground on this matter, considering it has not made the protection of children a priority in the past.- Yours, etc,
CLARE CASSIDY,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.