merrion street

Children and Youth Affairs Minister Francis Fitzgerald today welcomed two reports by the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland on the impact of alcohol on young people’s understanding of consent to sexual activity.

Minister Fitzgerald was launching the RCNI reports ‘Young People, Alcohol and Sex: What’s Consent got to Do with It?’

The reports provide invaluable insights into some of the issues facing young people who are engaging in sexual activity, as well as the risks posed by alcohol consumption in circumstances where there is diminishing clarity around consent,

she said.

The Government and Minister Alex White are to bring forward a Public Health Bill that will address many of the issues around alcohol consumption in Ireland.

She noted figures showing that 1.5 million Irish drinkers consume in a harmful pattern; that alcohol is responsible on average for 88 deaths per month, and Irish people are drinking from a younger age and drinking more than ever before.

The statistics show that between 2005 and 2008, 4,129 people aged under 30 years were discharged from hospital with chronic conditions of the type normally seen in older people, associated with alcohol.

The RCNI research questions whether we are giving our young people the skills to negotiate their adult relationships. Is the education system reaching out to them enough so that they can make informed choices about their sexual activity as opposed to uninformed or pressurised choices, which in some cases as the report examines, leads to sexual violence and rape.