The Government will try to ensure that any legislation on the legal age of consent for sexual intercourse will be "gender neutral" and non-discriminatory, the Minister for Children has said.
Brian Lenihan was speaking on the publication of a report on the outcome of consultations with 200 teenagers throughout the State on issues to be considered by the Government in its examination of the issue.
Some 210 young people in the 15-18 age group took part in workshops in north and south Dublin, Cork, Tullamore and Sligo during October. Pavee Point, an organisation promoting the rights of the Traveller community, also conducted a survey with teenagers.
The Minister initiated the consultation after the May 2006 judgment of the Supreme Court in the "C" case, which found the 1935 law on statutory rape to be unconstitutional.
Mr Lenihan said the fact that the views of the teenagers were taken into account "doesn't mean we are bound by them".
He noted he had been criticised for opening the consultation process with teenagers and that some critics had almost suggested the legislative process would be "abdicated" to 16- and 17-year-olds.
"It would be no more abdicated to them than it would be to any other interest in relation to legislation," he said.
The teenagers consulted were of the view that any new law must treat boys and girls equally, Mr Lenihan noted.
Mr Lenihan said there was "remarkable consistency" emerging from the consultation, which he described as a "most valuable exercise" and one that had provided "food for thought". The issue that had emerged "most forcibly", he said, was the quality of sex education in schools.
The Minister said it appeared that some schools don't provide any sex education, but he said there is a mandatory programme in place and that all schools are expected to teach it regardless of their ethos.
Mr Lenihan said that in other schools, sex education was taught "too infrequently" to make an impact and was based "solely on the biological aspects" of sex.
He noted that the young people also felt that teachers were not best placed to deliver sex education classes and that, in their judgment, the message delivered was "unrealistic and negative".
Many teenagers consulted referred to youth cafes as locations where they could access information on sex, or sexually transmitted diseases, in a non-judgmental and confidential environment.
Mr Lenihan said he would bring a teenage recreation policy to Government shortly.
"Without prejudging the outcome of those discussions, it is clear to me that these venues could help us fill in the information gaps that teenagers have about a whole range of issues, including sex."
The Minister also noted the majority of the participants believe there should be a "two-year gap" law, which would prevent young people being, as they saw it, unnecessarily criminalised.
"Under this, an 18-year-old male could engage in consensual sexual activity with a 16-year-old female and not break the law," he said.
"But I would make the comment that one of the problems with that proposal is that where there is a dispute between persons within the two-year band about the facts, consent becomes an issue in such proceedings. However, there was considerable appreciation of the need for a law on the age of sexual consent to protect children."
The majority of the teenagers, although not favouring a minimum age of consent, said it needed to take "maturity" into account, although they acknowledged this would be difficult to measure.