<P> The age of consent in Northern Ireland is 16, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, as specified by the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 . The reason the age of consent was lowered from 17 to 16 in 2008 with the Order was to bring it in line with the rest of the UK; Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins said there was no compelling reason for the age to be different in Northern Ireland than elsewhere . </P> <Ul> <Li> LGBT rights in the United Kingdom </Li> </Ul> <Li> LGBT rights in the United Kingdom </Li> <P> Gay male sexual conduct was illegal in Northern Ireland until 1982, when they were decriminalised by the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, which specified an age of consent of 21--in line with the rest of the UK at the time . The change was a result of the judgement in the European Court of Human Rights case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom (1981) in which the ECHR held that a prohibition on homosexual acts was a breach of Article 8 of the Convention . The age of consent for gay male sexual conduct was lowered to 18 in 1994 when the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was implemented (as to be in line with England and Wales). The age of consent in 2001 was then lowered to 17 for gay male sexual conduct - so that was in line with heterosexual and lesbian sexual conduct, by the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, Section 1 . Then in 2008 the age of consent for all individuals under an Order (mentioned above) was lowered to 16 so it was inline with the rest of the UK . Prior to 2008, the age of consent in Northern Ireland was always 17 for heterosexuals and lesbian sexual conduct . </P>

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