FG/Labour seek independent rape law crisis probe

FINE GAEL and Labour have demanded an independent investigation into the Government’s handling of the statutory rape law crisis.

They want to know how the Government, Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were caught unawares last month by the Supreme Court’s striking-down of the 1935 law which made it an automatic offence for a man to have sex with a girl under 15.

In the wake of that judgment, the High Court released “Mr A”, a 41-year-old who had raped a 12-year-old girl, before the Supreme Court ordered that he be rearrested.