As today marks the last day of both the Dáil and Seanad, I’m going to try and steer clear of anything too political but I’ve got to give a shout out to Senator Ned O’Sullivan and his dire warnings about seagulls.
Let’s put it in context. It happened during order of business in the Seanad. That is the time when senators can raise topics of the day. Those who spoke both before and after Ned rightly focused on the cuts to disability advocacy services but Ned ploughed his own furrow and ensured his own place in Irish parliamentary history before heading on holidays.
Ah holidays. It’s that time of the year. Mine are only a week away but for those brave young folk who sat exams (and their younger hangers-on), their money has been saved, the summer gear has been packed and they have all headed to various hotspots including Magaluf in Spain.
That charming spot on the Spanish coast had gone under my radar until stories started to circulate about what went on in and around there. the town gatecrashed our popular consciousness when Mary Coughlan told Newstalk how she had to go and rescue her son after an unsavoury incident.
I was a teenager. I knew how to party. Vodka was like water to me. But, in hindsight there was an innocence to what me and my peers got up to. Pass the chewing was the most risqué thing we could do. We had no idea what an STD clinic was.
All this week, Newstalk’s Henry Mckean has been based in Magaluf. Some reports were fun. Some were truly shocking. Yesterday his report looked at the dangers of picking up a sexually transmitted disease when you are on holiday. You can hear it here.
When I heard about the young man who thought HIM taking the morning after pill would prevent any woman he slept with from getting pregnant, my heart sank. Man may be too strong a word. He was obviously an adolescent. As for the girls whose favourite chant was:
‘Every hole is a goal.’
It is just frightening. And wrong. Whether we like it or not, the relentless sexualisation of children feeds into this need to be seen as sexual beings. If you look at any pictures attached to Henry’s reports, most of those who travelled are barely out of childhood. Their belief that lust equates with mature behaviour says much about the society they were brought up in.
Yes, I am going to ask ‘where are the parents?’ It goes back to them. As many of the children were under 18, a very practical example of how parents could intervene is allowing under age children have their own passports. Passport applications need parental consent.
I know this is a radical proposal but these children obviously are unable or incapable of behaving in a responsible manner. Yes, the pubs and clubs have serious questions about serving alcohol but parents need to ask questions. They need to realise that even if they sat exams, they are still children.
This may sound like a drastic solution but this kind of ‘rite of passage’ poses danger to those involved. If i've been quite strident on this issue, I make no apology for it. The week has been a sobering one.
