This article is from page 4 of the 2006-12-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE BISHOP of Killaloe has stated that the proposal to reduce the age of consent to 16 almost puts pressure on 16 year olds to start engaging in sexual activity.
Bishop Willie Walsh said that the proposal to reduce the age of consent to 16 was sending out the wrong message to young people still in school, in school uniform and was almost putting pressure on youngsters to engage in sexual activity.
Dr Walsh was responding to the Joint Oireachtas Committee report on Child Protection which recommended that the age of sexual consent be reduced from 17 to 16 years.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the country’s Catholic Bishops expressed their alarm over the proposal and speaking at a function in Ennis on Friday, Dr Walsh said that the appropriate age of consent was 18.
“We have a law against children under the age of 18 buying drink, buying cigarettes. People aren’t allowed to vote until they’re 18 and we see 18 as a figure accepted by society which marks the passage into adulthood.”
“The reality is that not every teenager of 16 or 17 is involved in sexual activity. A lot are but a great deal aren’t and lowering the age of consent would be unfair to those young people who are not sexually active.
“We would be almost putting pressure on them to have sex, that somehow they haven’t grown up unless they have indulged in sexual activity. One of the mistakes is that we think that young people mature at an earlier age these days. I think the opposite is true.”
“I am very conscious of the dilemma that many parents are facing to give moral guidance to their teenage children. Then a law comes out and undermines the authority of parents in this area and sends out the wrong message. Sexuality is something very precious, mysterious, extraordinary, wonderful and anything that trivialises that is highly dangerous.
“We are not asking people to legislate according to Catholic teaching, we are asking people to look at this from a human point of view and look at it very seriously.
“I believe that if you ask parents of teenage children what do they believe is the appropriate age of consent, the vast majority would say 18 instead of 16. Many parents are struggling with these things and they are entitled to the backing of the law.”
Dr Walsh expressed concern that the Government was being steamrolled into changing a law, just because it is being broken.