Justice ‘was told of rape law appeal in 2002’

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney yesterday admitted that the Justice Department was warned three-and-a-half years ago about the case which led to the early release of a self-confessed child rapist.

Ms Harney said an “information deficit” occurred after the Chief State Solicitor’s Office informed the Government of the court action in November 2002.

The Tánaiste added that even if the Government had acted at the outset of the case involving Mr A, the legislation could not have been applied retrospectively to keep him in jail.

The release of Mr A, who gave a 12-year-old girl Bacardi Breezers and vodka before raping her, sparked a political crisis as opposition party leaders accused the Government of putting children at risk.

Ms Harney told the Dáil the Government never anticipated losing the Supreme Court case which led to his release after judges ruled the statutory rape laws were unconstitutional.

Ms Harney said she was “outraged” by the release of the 41-year-old man.

“I share the outrage expressed by every decent person in the country that a man who plied a young woman with alcohol and pleaded guilty to carnal knowledge of her should walk free in these circumstances.

“Everyone is rightly concerned that something like that could happen,” she told TDs as she stood in for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who was travelling to New York.

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte launched a stinging attack on what he called the Government’s “incoherence” on the matter.

“The public are staggered by the incompetence and lack of care displayed by the Government in this case.” he said.

Mr Rabbitte indicated that Justice Minister Michael McDowell would have been forced to resign for his handling of the affair if he had been a minister in a British government.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny branded the Government a “headless band of bunglers”.

He said Mr McDowell’s claim that he had no knowledge of the case until he read about it in the newspapers was “incredible”.

Mr Kenny again repeated his warning that children were now at risk because of Government “incompetence”.

Ms Harney said no TD from either side of the Dáil had come forward to call for reform of the statutory rape laws before the Supreme Court ruling last week.

It also emerged that a “communications issue” had arisen whereby officials failed to tell the Attorney General about his office’s involvement in the case.

Ms Harney said the State’s appeal to the Supreme Court tomorrow over the Mr A case would determine the outcome of other similar cases.

Mr A had been jailed for three years in 2004 after pleading guilty to unlawful carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old girl. He was released by the High Court on Tuesday after last week’s Supreme Court judgment that the statutory rape laws were unconstitutional.