McDowell hits out at Mr A media ‘hysteria’

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday blamed media and opposition “hysteria” for forcing him to rush through emergency legislation to deal with the statutory rape crisis.

The minister insisted he had no regrets over his handling of the political turmoil which engulfed the Government following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down child rape laws as unconstitutional.

Mr McDowell said the media was responsible for “creating” the crisis which followed the ruling and the subsequent temporary early release of child rapist Mr A.

In a combative interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr McDowell rounded on presenter Áine Lawlor after she asked why he had not resigned over his handling of the crisis.

“This is an effort by you and some people in the media who didn’t follow the matter closely, didn’t understand the issues, who created a crisis — there was no crisis, there was an hysterical reaction,” he said.

“I don’t regret anything that I personally did as minister. There was no black hole in the law. This was swept aside in the hysteria from some quarters.”

The Justice Minister indicated he had wanted to spend longer preparing emergency legislation to plug legal loopholes left by the Supreme Court ruling, but pressure from Labour and Fine Gael had prevented that.

“It was I who looked for time and it was people who said I was living on a different planet that said we didn’t have time, we had to have legislation immediately,” he said.

Mr McDowell said he did regret the “human error” in the Attorney General’s Office which he blamed for his lack of awareness that the Supreme Court was about to make its landmark ruling in May.

Mr McDowell accused Labour justice spokesman Brendan Howlin of peddling “monstrous untruths” about his stance on the statutory rape issue.

Mr Howlin responded by saying the Justice Minister clearly needed a holiday.

“Minister McDowell is fast-becoming the Edith Piaf of this Government — he regrets nothing.

“In his world, Brendan Howlin, the Labour Party, Áine Lawlor, Morning Ireland, RTÉ, and the overwhelming majority of Irish society were wrong on the statutory rape issue. Only he was right. Right, and according to himself, calm.

“It is clear that the minister needs a long rest over the summer. He is clearly quite tired,” he said.