Current legislation has the potential to drive young unmarried fathers away from their children, according to a senior social worker in Galway.
Ms Sheila Lawlor, senior social worker at University College Hospital, Galway, has called for a review of legislation on under-age sex. If current laws were enforced, many willing under-age fathers could be imprisoned, she said.
Speaking at the half-yearly meeting of Treoir, the federation of services for unmarried parents and their children, Ms Lawlor drew attention to some of the practical dilemmas for social workers working with young girls who are sexually active. Under the 1993 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, it is a crime for anyone to have sex with a girl under 17 years of age.
A 15-year-old boy who had consensual sex with a young partner who got pregnant could find himself facing life imprisonment if the gardai were informed, she said. As it was, young fathers were often afraid to visit their partners in hospital, and this was separating willing fathers from their children, she said.
"If teenage couples know that we will be contacting the Garda, they will be afraid to come to hospitals for help and advice," she said, referring to the dilemma facing social workers in maternity hospitals.
Ms Lawlor said that there has been no significant increase in teenage pregnancies, and no increase in births to women under 15 years of age in the 15-year period from 1983 to 1998. In 1983, some 45.9 per cent of births were to married women under 20 years of age, and this had now fallen to 4.1 per cent. The significant change was in the non-marital status of many young mothers.
Also speaking at the conference, which was opened in Galway by the Minister of State with responsibility for Children, Mr Frank Fahey, law lecturer Mr Tom O'Malley called for a review of prosecutions in relation to alleged sexual offences which occurred more than 25 years ago.
Abuse commissions might be a better way of coping with the needs of victims in such situations, and would avoid "random criminalisation" by society, he said. Mr O'Malley is a law lecturer at NUI Galway.
He said that he opposed imprisonment of an offender of 65 years of age or over, and felt it should be prohibited. Given that society had colluded in concealing sexual offences which had occurred more than 25 years ago, those now being put to trial were no more than a random sample.
"It is very difficult to give someone a fair trial if the offences are alleged to have occurred over 30 years ago," he said.
A revised information pack for unmarried parents has been published by Treoir, and can be obtained by contacting the organisation at (01)4964155.
