Education crucial for sexual health

There was a time when a health minister like Mary Harney would have provoked public outrage by suggesting that contraception is the key to minimising the number of crisis pregnancies.

But the findings of the Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships, commissioned by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the Department of Health, has apparently had the salutary impact of compelling people to face unpalatable changes in our sexual mores and the disturbing attitude towards prostitution.

The survey found that most Irish people now in their 20s had their first sexual experience at 17 years of age.