Sexting among Irish teenagers is said to be on the increase.

New research claims three in 10 Leaving Certificate students have sent nude photos.

There is growing concern that teens as young as 12 are sending explicit images.

Mother and journalist Taryn De Vere told Newstalk Breakfast her daughter could receive up to 10 requests a week.

"My daughter first told me when she was about 13 that she was receiving lots of messages from boys - some of them known to her, some of them not known to her - for nude pictures".

She said the conversation came about after a younger friend of hers had been inundated with these messages and was not sure what to do.

"I realised I had been remiss in not talking to my daughter about it, and we sat down and had a conversation."

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"I think most people don't realise that the extent of this for teenage girls - when I questioned my daughter about it, she said she could get 10 messages a week from boys.

"This needs to be part of their comprehensive sex ed - because while I do think it's the parents responsibility, there are some parents out there who just won't have these conversations with their kids.

"And so those children shouldn't be failed because their parents won't - for whatever reason - have these conversations".

Psychotherapist and author Stella O'Malley said this is becoming the norm for some students.

"What's happened from what I've noticed is it sweeps through schools... and the boys do hassle the girls for them.

"It does become a kind of a thing in a year or in a school.

"It's not like this is some freak school and some freak children there - it definitely happens".

"There's a huge chunk of any class that are going to go with the wave, and it's our job as adults to make sure that the wave isn't things like sexting when they're 13.

"You would remember and I would remember that we did things in school that our parents would have been horrified by and didn't know about - and this is the very same".