Eight girls under 15 gave birth at start of this year

Eight girls aged 15 years and under had a child in the first quarter of this year and for one of them, that child was her second.

The latest statistics for births, deaths, and marriages released by the CSO do not give any further background on the girls who fell into that category. However, if the babies were conceived in this country, under Irish law, the mothers would have been victims of rape or statutory rape.

As the age of consent is 17, that also applies to the 17 girls who were 16 when they had their babies in the first quarter of this year.