Vol. 446 No. 5
136 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health if he will initiate a national study on teenage pregnancy in Ireland to provide further information so that appropriate policies can be put in place to deal with the many issues that arise as a result of the levels of teenage pregnancies. [2441/94]
Information on the prevalence of teenage pregnancies is already available to my Department in the form of the number of live births to women under the age of 20. I would assure the Deputy that the quality of the information available is something which I will keep under constant review.
In relation to appropriate policies being put in place to deal with the many issues which arise as a result of teenage pregnancies the Deputy may be aware that the Health Promotion Unit of my Department, in conjunction with a number of health boards, has developed substantial programmes which specifically address the issues of parenting skills, sex education and teenage pregnancy and many schools are currently availing of these programmes.
The Deputy will also be aware that my colleague, the Minister for Education, established an Expert Group on Relationships and Sex Education in the school setting and their report is currently being urgently considered by the national council for Curriculum and Assessment.
