Women seeking help for crisis pregnancies are younger than before and often cannot recall having had sex because they were so drunk, a family planning clinic director said yesterday.
She added that the clinic expected to deal with many such cases over the Christmas season.
At the opening of the Marie Stopes Reproductive Choices centre, which has moved to larger premises in Berkeley Street, Dublin, Ms Dorene McCarthy said girls aged 17 upwards discovered they were pregnant but had no recollection of having had sex.
"Younger and younger girls are getting so drunk that they are presenting to us but can't remember having sex or even whether they were sexually assaulted," she said
She said girls in the younger age group now had more money to spend on drink. A few years ago these type of pregnancies would be among women in their 20s.
"After the Inter Cert results, there is usually a deluge of girls coming in and now with Christmas party time coming up, we expect far more," she said.
Children needed to be educated by parents but also by schools which were traditionally reluctant to give sexual information, she added.
The clinic was also concerned about the number of agencies, mainly in Dublin, which purported to offer non-directive counselling but which were in fact strongly anti-abortion.
Ms McCarthy said the agencies lured the girls in with promises of phone numbers and help but were pro-life people who then showed horrifying videos and referred the women to the agency's doctor.
"By the time they get to us it is either too late to give them information about England. They cause delays that prevent women accessing the services until much later in their pregnancies. These agencies are irresponsible, placing women's psychological and physical wellbeing at risk, and can cause some women to go for back-street abortions," she said.
Ms Deirdre Jones, clinic manager, said last year 6,320 women from the Republic went to the UK for abortion services. This was almost a 70 per cent rise on those travelling a decade ago.
She said the clinic offered non-judgmental advice and information and could see up to 100 women a week with unplanned pregnancies.
The clinic was opened by author and journalist Nell McCafferty who said the situation had improved since the 1970s but still the situation was not good enough or moving fast enough.
The clinic offers a range of services including all family planning services.