Ms Emily Logan:

While a lot of the focus in the public debate has been on abortion, for a long time in Ireland we have had a fairly poor history of educating girls about sexual health. The child safety and protection policy was only placed on a mandatory footing in 2011 despite the fact that it was introduced as a public policy in the 1990s. As such, we have been very slow to recognise the importance of educating girls. Ultimately, we are saying that we should look at prevention. While we are looking at the hard edge of abortion here, we must also wake up to the fact that we need to properly educate young people, not just girls, who may be sexually active, however uncomfortable that may be for some people. We must move into the 21st century on sexual health for young people.