Alex's Answer

Hi there and welcome to Ask Alex.  

Thank you so much for contacting us today. We understand it is not always easy to talk about how we are feeling.

You are asking if it is abuse if you had sex with a man when you were 16, got pregnant and he is 23.  The legal age of consent in Ireland is 17 years old. This means you must be 17 or older to be able to consent to engage in sexual activities. However, it is a crime in Ireland for a person to engage in a sexual act with someone under 18 years old if they are or have previously been in a position of authority over them. 

There’s more information around consent here: citizensinformation.ie and on https://b4udecide.ie/the-facts/age-of-consent/.  You also might find this article on the Childline.ie website helpful as well: https://www.childline.ie/consent/.  

If you would like to have a chat about how you’re feeling, you can always contact us here at Childline, by clicking on the Live Chat button on this website, or giving us a call on 1800 66 66 66. You can talk about anything you want to, and we are here to listen to whatever you would like to say. We can talk about what options may be available to you and look at some support services.

Remember, you do not have to go through this on your own, there are people and support services who care about you. Please reach out to somebody soon. We would love to hear from you. 

Alex