25% of teens admit to sexting others

Ireland has been found to have one of the highest rates of “sexting” among young people in Europe with at least a quarter of teenagers admitting they send sexually graphic messages.

The high rate of sexting here has been blamed on a lack of relevant and coherent education on the topic in the country’s schools.

Irish teenagers were found to be the fourth highest in the EU for sending explicit messages, images or video, according to Dr Sheri Bauman, an expert in peer victimisation and cyberbullying and a professor of counselling at the University of Arizona.