TEEN TIMES: We might as well get the shocking part of this piece out of the way: I'm a teenager, and, just occasionally, I have been known to drink. To the vast majority of sensible readers, this revelation will be as much of a surprise as the news that that Ian Paisley still has some trust issues with the IRA. However, in light of the media's constant gasps of indignation at suggestions that alcohol plays too much of a part in the lives of our teens, I have a few things to say, writes Peter Molloy.

Being in the middle of that barrel of academic laughs that is sixth year, my opportunities for socialising have undergone a severe cull. Still, from time to time, I find rare chances to withdraw from the pages of a textbook to venture into the outside world. When I do, drink invariably plays a role in my "r&r".

And I'm not alone. I could occupy your time needlessly to support that statement, or I could instead simply point you in the direction of your nearest park or green space. Here, you will find the grass generously sprinkled with an assortment of rusting beer cans, broken glass, and empty alco-pop bottles. A six-pack of cheap lager is on offer to the first adult reader who concludes that this beverage-originated debris may not be the product of legal drinkers.

If this fact is less than startling, you might be forgiven for pondering a bit more and concluding that our licensing laws might not be having their desired effect. So what to do? We could impose further restrictions on our pubs and off-licences in another attempt to stem the flow of underage drinking, adding further to the teetering stack of existing, ineffective laws. They might succeed where previous efforts have failed, but it's more likely that any new laws merely slightly lengthen the time it takes for underage people to procure drink.

Or we could consider, lowering our legal drinking age. "Rubbish!", I hear you shout. You're thinking, of course a teenager would write in support of a lower drinking age. But hear me out. This article is not simply one sullen teenager's stab at authority, hastily scribbled with a blinding hangover the morning after the night before. I'm merely acknowledging an unavoidable fact which is that underage drinking, with all its negative points, is here already, and has been for a long time. We've simply attempted thus far to push the issue under the carpet by legislating against it.

It'll be only too easy to shout me down about this. The first genius will argue that younger legal drinking will lead inevitably to disorder on the streets, to underage sex, to the sight of youths, insensible, vomiting helplessly at the side of the road. You might just have a point there, if it wasn't for the fact that as it stands, this reality is available on any given Saturday night around the country.

I believe it's worth investigating whether a lower drinking age might result in a more mature attitude among teenagers. If you treat people like children, don't be surprised if they behave like them. Lowering our legal drinking age might not make this problem go away but things could not get any worse.

There is also a chance that the damaging phenomenon of underage drinking might improve somewhat if we get down from the moral high ground and look at some practical ways to improve the situation. I for one think it's a national conversation worth having.

Peter Molloy (17) is in Leaving Cert at Blackrock College

Submissions from teenagers of 500-word articles are welcome to teentimes@irish-times.ie.

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