Anger at failure to protect young
An angry, tense mood settled over a Dáil chamber suddenly splattered in the backwash of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the law on statutory rape as unconstitutional.
It was a Dáil chamber alive with recrimination over its own failure to protect the most vulnerable in society.
It wasn’t the usual plastic anger so beloved by headline-hungry deputies, but a genuine sense of outrage at the revolting turn of events triggered by the release of the innocuous sounding “Mr A”.
Enda Kenny, so often accused of “fake rage”, announced he was speaking as a father as much as a TD as he delivered a withering critique of the Government’s patent lack of urgency over the matter.
He spoke of the sickening freedom of a man who “deliberately plied a young girl of confirmation age with alcohol and then had sex with her”.
“Thanks to the Taoiseach’s breathtaking incompetence, Mr A has walked free and so might Mssrs. B, C, D, E and F,” he warned.
The outrage seemed real, partly because Mr Kenny does not do anger well, even when it is genuine.
He appears self conscious and almost embarrassed by the release of emotion.
A trait not shared by his Labour counterpart Pat Rabbitte, who directed his deadly, forensic rhetorical skills at the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell who insisted just days ago that “there isn’t the gaping void some people are arguing” after news of the landmark Supreme Court ruling broke.
The Taoiseach looked isolated and at times overwhelmed, with just the odd scribbled note handed to him by the Justice Minister for support.
The rawest intervention came from Labour’s Joan Burton when asked by the Ceann Comhairle to keep quiet.
“I am concerned that children could be raped and the man will have the defence of saying he was not sure about the age of the child,” she railed.
The Taoiseach continued to read copiously from his notes, talking about tougher sentencing and working within the system.
The same system that, as we now know, treats the rights of sex offenders above those of their young victims.
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