Just watch recent YouTube videos or browse through the US versions of Yahoo News and you'll see a story of a 20-30 something attractive teacher that slept with 10 of their male students and just got a slap on the wrist.
I suppose the two obvious factors would be the large population along with the sensationalism but I'm leaning more towards culture. It seems like a rising trend in the UK which over the recent years you could say has started emulating the trash of the US.
UK Teacher Given 16 Months Over 'Full Blown' RelationshipTeacher From Bristol Has Drunken Sex With Student On A Plane
The real question I'm getting to is why doesn't Ireland have this? Our culture seems to be a clone of the UK in many ways. It can't be that we have one of the highest ages of consent can it?