HL Deb 19 July 1979 vol 401 cc1587-90

7.30 p.m.

Lord ELTON rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 28th June, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, the order will make provision for Northern Ireland similar to that made for Great Britain by the Tattooing of Minors Act 1969. At present in Northern Ireland there is no prohibition on the tattooing of young people. Many are tattooed, while aged under 18, and later come to regret it. Problems may arise in personal relationships, if, for example, a man bears a tattoo of the name of a former girl friend. Also, more seriously, a considerable number of minors bear tattoos in the form of sectarian slogans which may put their safety or even their lives at risk.

The only effective way of removing tattoos is by plastic surgery. The process can be painful and usually involves protracted treatment. Waiting lists are long and treatment in Northern Ireland has had to be restricted to the most serious cases. None the less, 298 such operations were performed under National Health Service facilities in Northern Ireland in the three-year period, ending in 1978. Adults must remain free to make their own decision, but so far as children are concerned, these are all problems to which I believe they ought never to be exposed, and from which we have a duty to protect them.

The order accordingly makes it an offence to tattoo anyone under the age of 18, and there are only two exceptions provided for. First, a minor may be tattooed for medical reasons by or under the direction of a medical practitioner. Second, a person will not be guilty of an offence if he tattoos a minor whom he reasonably believes to be 18 or over.

I commend this very short but useful order to your Lordships as a worthwhile measure which will prohibit the undesirable practice of marking young people for life in a way they may later regret, and which will bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom in this matter. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft order, laid before the House on 28th June, be approved.—(Lord Elton.)

Lord AUCKLAND

My Lords, this order is to be warmly welcomed. I recall taking part in the debate on the 1969 order which applied to the whole of the United Kingdom. I have not visited Northern Ireland for several years, but having seen the results of, what I might call, some botched-up tattooing jobs on minors in Great Britain, I tell your Lordships that the sights are terrible to behold and, as my noble friend has said, plastic surgery is needed to remove them. It must also be recognised that in Northern Ireland at present doctors have enough to do, apart from having to remove tattoo marks, whether they be from minors or, indeed, adults.

This is a much-needed order. The only slight criticism I would make—not of this Government and possibly not even of the previous Government—is that the order was not brought in much earlier. I should like to ask my noble friend one question, of which I have not given him notice so I do not expect an answer this evening. It is as to what is meant by " medical reasons ". I am a little puzzled as to how the art of tattooing can be carried out for medical reasons. I know that a certain amount of cosmetic surgery is performed for medical reasons, but I am a little mystified at tattooing coming under this. Having made those remarks, I believe that the order will be greatly welcomed, especially by the medical profession in Northern Ireland which is already doing such marvellous work of a much more vital nature than removing tattoo marks.

Lord BLEASE

My Lords, I certainly agree with the noble Lord, Lord Auckland, when he says that one of his regrets is that the order was not introduced much earlier. Some 12 years ago this matter was debated at some length in this House and, indeed, in another place. Recorded in Hansard were some horrific stories about the implications of tattooing, together with some amusing ones: one noble Lord boasted that he had a hunting scene tattooed across his chest. But, whatever the reasons one embarks on this course of action, I certainly welcome the reasons put forward in the order and support the request for some explanation of " medical reasons " that may be required

I should like to raise one other matter. Tiny as it is, and though it meets a need, the order will deal only with some aspects of the matter. Much of the tattooing is self-inflicted and carried out by groups of minors; by that I mean gang groups. I do not know how we could introduce an educational element here. Sometimes if one begins to talk about aspects of life of this kind, they serve only to stimulate and alert an awareness of them. However, I certainly welcome the measure to control it. Perhaps an examination could be made of how children in school could best have their attention drawn to the implications of tattoing in their later lives.

Lord ELTON

My Lords, I am obliged to both noble Lords for their observations and to my noble friend for the warm welcome which he gave to this order. I do not think that it will profit us to ask why it has taken so long to introduce the order; it has taken us 11 weeks, which is fairly rapid. As to the medical reasons, they left me somewhat guessing until I went into the matter a little more deeply. I understand that there are one or two applications. A warning about the fact that a person is a diabetic or acutely allergic to particular drugs can literally indelibly be inscribed upon him. More interesting or unexpected is the following: If a noble Lord was in the unhappy position of having something that looked like an appendicectomy scar in the place where such a scar would normally appear, which had been caused by a motorcycle accident or was due to some other reason, it would be quite important to have indelibly inscribed beside it " This is not an appendicectomy scar ", otherwise the noble Lord might perish untimely due to the wrong diagnosis.

I take the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Blease, about tattooing inflicted by minors upon minors. I was not aware of this. I shall certainly look into the educational aspect of it. I am very glad that he has shown a grasp of the difficulties of educational matters in realising that sometimes if you tell someone not to do something, that will be the first time that he has thought of doing it and he goes away and does it. I certainly take that on board and will see whether anything can be done.

On Question, Motion agreed to.