Ms Claire McEvoy:

The current age is out of step with our human rights obligations. That is the first point. It has been recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that we should raise the age. That is clear. It is based on the human rights system that has been developed, to which Ireland is a party. We ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, more than 30 years ago. It is time we got this right. That is one point. The second point is that with this very low age, we are out of touch with our European neighbours. Globally, the most common age is 14.