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Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008

With respect, my Lords, we are talking about the criminal law, not the issue of morals. The order is about the safety of young people. We have taken a judgment that, at 16, people would be informed enough to make those decisions. As I have said and as has been discussed, with parental consent 16 is the age at which one can marry. I say to the noble Earl that the organisations that I listed work with and advise young people day in and day out in Northern Ireland. It is not as though they do not have any locus or standing; they certainly do. I do not seek to claim great numbers one way or the other; I do not have the evidence for that.