OPPOSITION is growing in Londonderry to the lowering of the age of consent after a new Sexual Offences Order was laid before Westminster last week
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The Order aims to lower the age of consent in Northern Ireland to 16, in line with England and Wales and contains a range of tighter sentences, including life terms for those who have sex with children under 13. The government has also rejected cl
aims that lowering the age of consent from 17 to 16 in Northern Ireland is encouraging 16-year-olds to have sex.
Those opposed to the altering of the age limit contend that Westminster is acting undemocratically by 'imposing' legislation on Northern Ireland.
A total of 55 MLA's have signed a 'no day named' motion at Stormont to voice their opposition to the order. Amongst them is SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey who said: "The sheer number of MLA's signing up to this No Day motion confirms that if the Assembly was to be deciding on the age of consent, it would not be liberalising the present law.
"It would be voting to keep current legal protections in place for our teenagers. Why then is Westminster forcing this legislation upon us in a view of the strong opposition of local people and their elected representatives? This is an affront to democracy."
Pastor Mark Bradfield of the Bethel Baptist Church in Londonderry told the Sentinel that the move is further evidence of the erosion of the fabric of society.
"I am aware that various groups are lobbying for the abolition of the age of consent.
"If that happened it would basically boil down to the word of a child against that of an adult. A few decades ago the age was 21, it then became 18 and now it is shifting to 16.
"I believe that people should remain chaste until they are married. Society may change but people haven't changed for thousands of years and neither has the bible. In the long term there will be no model of stability for society," he said.
Helena Bracken of the Nexus Institute in the city said that the law was reflective of a the society we live in.
"More people are having sex younger. We adhere to whatever is legal. When it was 17 we supported that and now that it will be 16 we will keep to that too. However, I think that any younger than 16 is abusive."
