Some 70 per cent of the nearly 14,000 who have visited the Genitourinary Clinic since 2000 admitted to never using condoms.

Nine in 10 of the people seen by the clinic are heterosexual and nearly two-thirds are men. A little over seven per cent are under the age of 18.

This year the clinic has already seen more than 2,300 patients in the first 10 months, about a hundred more than in the whole of last year, figures collected by GU Clinic consultant Philip Carabot show.

About three-quarters of all patients who attend the clinic refer themselves and most do so for a precautionary check-up.

The rate of people who say they have sex with different partners varies from around 41 per cent in 2000 to 43 per cent this year.

A third of patients said they occasionally had anal sex, a practice which is considered to be more risky than regular sex as far as transmittable diseases go. Three-quarters of these patients are heterosexual.

Despite these figures, Dr Carabot argues that the country needs national prevalence studies since it is not enough to rely on statistics coming from the GU Clinic which show only part of the local picture when it comes to sexually transmitted infections.

"We are lucky to have one major hospital, which could allow us to test all left-over blood for infections without identifying the patient. This would give us a much better idea of the situation," he said.

Speaking about the long-awaited National Sexual Health Policy, Dr Carabot said progress was being made. He recently made a presentation to Parliament's Social Affairs Committee about the policy and a national conference should be organised early next year.

Dr Carabot said patients who attend the GU Clinic are given the whole range of tests for sexually transmitted infections. "It is free and confidential," he told The Times.

In an interview last week, Irish genitourinary expert Derek Freedman said that when screening for sexually transmitted infections it is not enough to offer a cursory examination and a urine test.

He has since clarified that in his experience it is those who dabble outside the GU Clinic that do not provide acceptable care in comparison to the service at the clinic, at Boffa Hospital.

Dr Carabot said the comment has raised a number of concerns among patients, who questioned the accuracy of the tests. He told The Times that tests done at the clinic were definitively not cursory, adding that microscope tests are also given in-house on the spot to all patients - a practice which sometimes gives an immediate diagnosis.

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