The number of births to teenage mothers is a cause of concern to the Eastern Health Board, its chief executive officer has said. Many teenage mothers left school early and their children were more likely to be taken into care than were those of older women, Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick said yesterday.
He was addressing the Cura conference in Dublin Castle. Cura was established by the Catholic Church 21 years ago to offer counselling and support to women with unwanted pregnancies.
Speakers at last night's opening session included the President, Mrs McAleese, and Archbishop Desmond Connell.
"More than 5 per cent of births in this country are now to teenage mothers, almost all of them single," said Mr Fitzpatrick.
This was happening during "a period of great change and perhaps even turmoil for the young person".
"Teenage parents require enormous emotional support, guidance and stability to fulfil the parenting task.
"We also know that many teenage parents have not completed their education," he said.
In one Dublin maternity hospital, 80 per cent of those teenage mothers who had left school had not sat the Leaving Certificate.
It was important to help teenage parents get an education to enhance their own and their children's chances in life, he said.
In an apparent reference to some of the publicity surrounding the recent C case, Mr Fitzpatrick condemned media intrusion into the lives of children in care.
"It is often said in journalistic circles that it is the function of journalists and the news media to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.
"There is a great deal of truth in that but, unfortunately, there are also occasions when some sections of the media choose to afflict the afflicted as well.
"There is a world of difference between the public interest and what interests the public."
He accepted and recognised the obligation of State agencies to be open and transparent in all their dealings with the public and the media, but "every child in our care or with whom we are involved is entitled to have the circumstances of that care or involvement treated with total confidentiality".
Those who suffered a gross intrusion of their privacy by the media had no remedy but to go to court, he said.
"In Britain there is a Press Complaints Commission with power to impose fines of up to £10,000. In Ireland there is no such body.
"It seems to me that there is an urgent need in this country for, firstly, an intense public debate on the whole question of privacy, followed by practical action on the matter."
The President said she wanted to thank Cura "on behalf of the people of Ireland, in particular the frightened women, for all the crises you have dealt with and the problems that you have helped people walk through".
Unexpected pregnancy was "still, for many, a frightening and distressing experience, pushing them into an alienating loneliness the depths of which few can imagine but which many have come through to an unexpected degree of acceptance and even happiness eventually".
The conference continues today.