Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 224: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on the increasing number of teenage pregnancies at young ages each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24251/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, CPA, has compiled figures for Ireland on the number of teenage pregnancies to females aged 15 to 19 years per 1,000 females in the same age group. This is known as the teenage pregnancy rate and is an aggregate of the births and abortions in this age group. The figures show that the teenage pregnancy rate increased from 21.17 in 1991 to 25.67 in 2001 but the rate has been falling since, and last year it was 22.86.

The CPA also published this year the first in a series of statistical reports on reproductive decision making and childbearing in Ireland. Data on the Irish teenage fertility rate, the number of live births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years, show that is has declined slightly between 1973 and 2003. In addition, figures from the Central Statistics Office on the number of births to teenagers aged 12 to 14 years show that the number of teenage births at young ages each year is not increasing.

The CPA has funded 11 sex education and sexual health promotion projects and services nationally that are designed to prevent unwanted teenage pregnancies. For example, the CPA has developed a DVD and accompanying booklet, called You Can Talk to Me, intended to help parents communicate with their children about relationships and sex. Supporting parents in their role as the primary educators of their children is a key aim of the CPA's strategy to address the issue of crisis pregnancy.

In addition, the CPA is co-funding a large scale research project with the Department of Education and Science that is examining policy level barriers and facilitators to implementing a course in schools on relationships and sex education.