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GAP IN CHILD SEX LAW COULD
HAVE BEEN CLOSED HAD TAOISEACH ACCEPTED LABOUR OFFER
Wednesday, 16 January, 2008
The continuing gap in the law on child sex abuse,
arising from the striking down by the Supreme Court of
the statutory rape provisions of the 1935 Criminal Law
(Amendment) Act, could have been long closed had the
Taoiseach accepted an offer from the Labour Party to
cooperate with the holding of a referendum on the issue
in the first half of last year.
The dropping of all charges against the man in the ‘Mr.
C’ case, who admitted having sex with a 14 year old
girl, has highlighted the continuing gap in the law
which allows those who sexually abuse children to claim
that they did not know that their victims were under
age.
It is simply unacceptable that more than 18 months after
the Supreme Court decision that the people have not been
given the opportunity to amend the constitution to
restore the protection that was available prior to the
court’s judgment.
The main reason for this delay is the decision of the
government to lump together in one single constitution
amendment two separate and distinct issues – one
relating to the criminal law and the protection of
children from sexual predators, the other relating to
the general welfare of children. No constitutional
amendment is ever simple, but the issues of the age of
consent and related sexual matters are relatively
straightforward, while there is general recognition that
the broader issue of inserting into the constitution a
general statement on children’s rights and welfare
raises issues of enormous complexity.
During the course of Leader’s Questions on February 20th
of last year, the then Leader of the Labour Party, Pat
Rabbitte TD, made a specific and direct offer to the
Taoiseach that if he decoupled the two issues, the
Labour Party would co-operate to ensure that the
required legislation was enacted by the Oireachtas to
allow a referendum on the sexual offences issue to be
taken either in advance of or on the same day as the
general election.
Unfortunately, the Taoiseach rejected the Labour Party’s
offer. Had he accepted it, the constitution could have
been amended and the gap in the law closed by the middle
of last year.
We are now find ourselves in the situation where more
than 18 months after the Supreme Court decision, the
government still cannot give any indication as to the
date for the promised referendum. The timing of any
referendum is now further complicated by the fact that
we also have to have a referendum of the Lisbon Reform
Treaty. Those who feel strongly about these issues,
would probably prefer that the two referendums were not
held on the same day.
It is now essential that the Oireachtas Committee, which
has again been asked to look at this issue, concludes
its work by the deadline given to it of the end of March
and that a decision be made on the timing of the
referendum at the earliest possible date.
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