Skip to Content
Home

National law and policies on minimum ages – Ireland

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

 

Sources:
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/IRL/2, 9 December 2005
Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add. 12, 17 June 1996
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 2nd report
626. Under the Irish Constitution, primary education is provided free to all children, with educational initiatives at this level being given utmost support. In addition, attendance at school is compulsory for all children aged 6-16 years living in Ireland under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000.
From initial report
69. The School Attendance Act, 1926 and its amendments require children to attend school between the ages of 6 and 15 years. A review of the School Attendance Act which will, in particular, raise the minimum school- leaving age to 16 years in line with the provisions of the White Paper on Education is currently under way.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
230. […] The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1996 provides that employers may not employ those aged under 16 (a child) in a regular full-time job. The Act consolidates the law on young workers and gives effect to international rules on protecting young workers drawn up by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Union (EU). The law is designed to protect the health of young workers and to ensure that work during the school years does not put a young person’s education at risk. The law sets minimum age limits for employment, sets rest intervals and maximum working hours, and prohibits the employment of under-18s on late-night work. Employers must keep specified records for workers who are under 18 […] Employers may employ 14 and 15 year-olds on light work: during the school holidays; part-time during the school term (over 15 years only); or as part of an approved work experience or educational programme, where the work is not harmful to their safety, health or development.
From initial report
70. The employment of children under the school-leaving age is generally prohibited. An exception is made where he/she is a full-time student at an institute of secondary education and is participating in a work experience course or other similar educational course arranged or approved by the Minister for Education.
However, a child of 14 years but under the school leaving age of 15 years, may be permitted to do light, non- industrial, work during the school holidays. Where a 14-year-old child is employed in these limited circumstances it is only permitted on work which is not harmful to health or normal development and does not interfere with the child's schooling. Before employing a child aged 14 to 15 years, the employer must obtain written permission from the child's parent or guardian. The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Bill, 1996, proposes to raise the legal full-time working age from 15 to 16.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From 2nd report
223. As set out in Ireland’s First Report (1996), for persons ordinarily resident in the Irish State, the minimum age at which one may marry is 18 years (unless a Court Exemption Order has been obtained).
From initial report
73. The current minimum age for marriage is 16 years. The High Court may grant exemption from this requirement. Under section 1 of the Marriages Act, 1972 a marriage involving a party under 16 years which had not received the requisite court approval would be void. Those under 21 years who wish to marry are, with certain exceptions, legally obliged to obtain the consent of parents or, where appropriate, guardians. The Family Law Act, 1995, increases the minimum age of marriage to 18 years and removes any requirement for parental consent. It also provides for a minimum period of notice of marriage of three months. There is provision for exemption by court order of the notice requirement to meet situations where the inflexible application of the requirement would be unfair.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From 2nd report
235. In its concluding observations on Ireland’s First Report (1996), the UN Committee expressed concern at the various low age limits set in the domestic legislation of the State Party. Part 5 of the Children Act, 2001 provides for the raising of the age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 12 years. This Part of the Act has not yet commenced.
From initial report
76. There is a conclusive presumption in Irish law that a child under 7 years is incapable of committing an offence. There is a rebuttable presumption that a child between 7 and 14 years is incapable of committing an offence, i.e. it must be proved not only that the child committed the offence but that he or she knew that it was wrong. These ages are being reviewed in the context of the examination of the juvenile justice system currently taking place.
 
Sources:
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/IRL/2, 9 December 2005
Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add. 12, 17 June 1996