SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Ivana, 48, is a mother of two and the Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College Dublin. She says: THE small national school in West Cork I went to certainly wasn’t going to give me a sex education. My parents actually were very progressive — they are still — so we were very lucky. There was never any big mystery. They must have explained it when we were very small because I don’t ever remember not knowing how babies were made.

I do remember enlightening some of the girls in first year in secondary school. Everybody knew a little bit, so people were putting two and two together and getting five. We were shockingly ignorant.

My children are now 10 and 12 and, yes, I explained it all to them when they asked when they were very small. When they were three or four they were fascinated by how babies were made. I was actually amazed by how young they were when they asked me about it. I used to read them the book Mummy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole. It’s really good.

When my oldest girl asked, I explained it in a very matter-of-fact, scientific way. Then it went off the agenda for years. Now they think it’s gross but back then they were too young to think that. I suppose the attitude I wanted is matter of fact, that there’s nothing secretive or somehow unpleasant about sex.

As for the issue of consent, we’re lucky that the girls are in a great Educate Together school, they do the Stay Safe programme in RSE. The programme is designed to facilitate education around consent. The children bring home pictures and are encouraged to discuss with their parents what kind of touch is not okay. It’s a really good model.