A website aimed at encouraging teenagers to make healthy and responsible decisions about relationships and to delay early sex has been launched.
B4udecide.ie features video interviews with young people on forming healthy relationships, on dealing with peer pressure, and on why it is better for young people to wait until they are older before having sex for the first time.
The website was launched by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency.
Teenagers, parents and adults from a range of organisations were consulted at different stages in the research and development of the website.
Orla McGowan of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency said some teenagers she interviewed spoke of being under 'overwhelming' pressure to be sexually active and said they were confused about when was the right time to do so.
She also said that if they had a question about relationships and sex, the teenagers she spoke to would go to a friend, an older sibling, a teacher, a guidance counsellor, a parent or a youth worker.
The new website will now support parents, teachers and youth workers with information in their discussions with teenagers.
Much of the information on the website followed the Irish study of Sexual Health and Relationships, which published its findings in 2006.
Professor Hannah McGee of the Royal College Surgeons was one of the authors of that report.
Speaking today, she said their research suggested that young people who engaged in sex before the age of consent were more likely to experience crisis pregnancy, to have an abortion and to be at greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection later in their lives.
Professor McGee said young people who had sex earlier were more likely to express regret that they had not waited longer.
