The finding that as many as one in six teenagers screened at clinics have been found to have contracted a STD is truly shocking and deeply worrying in its own right.

But it also raises serious questions about the new legislation rushed through the houses of the Oireachtas nine days ago. To be fair, the government had to act quickly to close off the glaring gap in the law after the Supreme Court ruled that Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was unconstitutional. That urgency meant that there was simply not enough time to properly debate the issue of the age of consent for sexual activity. But it is clear for several reasons that this debate must happen and that the legislation in this area must be re-examined.

The provision in the legislation that makes consensual sex involving teenagers under 17 a crime for boys, but not for girls, is open to constitutional challenge. It may take six months or it may take six years for such a challenge but it seems inevitable that it will happen.

But there is also a wider issue about how realistic the current age of consent is.

If 15% of under-18s screened at clinics have an STD, it suggests that many young people are engaging in sexual activity below the age of consent. And that presents a major dilemma for our legislators.

If they legislate to reflect what is happening in the real world, do they send out a signal that sexual activity at such a young age is perfectly acceptable? But, if they opt to keep the age of consent relatively high, do they run the risk of bringing the law into disrepute by criminalising thousands of our teenagers? Is it right to introduce an aspirational law that is disregarded by the very people it is meant to protect?

There are no easy answers to these questions, which is another reason why we should be grateful that the real debate on the age of consent did not happen during the past two weeks. An emotionally charged, at times hysterical, atmosphere is not conducive to finding solutions to problems such as this. But that cannot mean the issue should be postponed indefinitely. An all-party Oireachtas committee . . . backed up by an expert group . . . must begin an examination of the existing legislation and its merits as soon as is practical.

This issue will arise again and, when it does, nobody will be able to claim that they did not see it coming.