Oireachtas calls for change in statutory rape law
The proposed change to the Constitution is one of 62 proposals being put before the Government today following a review of the criminal law on sexual offences, after existing statutory rape law was found to be unconstitutional.
The report will also recommend the establishment of an independent body to oversee access to information on sex offenders. This would operate in a similar way to the Freedom of Information Act, but any interested parties would have to show a genuine interest before getting access to the list.
The committee, chaired by Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Peter Power, also recommended a reduction of the age of consent to 16.
Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said the children’s charity would welcome a referendum to redress the issue of honest mistake. “We cannot have a situation where a person can use this defence to justify having sex with a child.
“ Nor can we tolerate a young victim of abuse being both an exhibit and a witness in a courtroom situation. Cross-examining a child in such an adversarial environment would perpetuate the damage already done,” he said.
“A referendum would be an important platform in which to debate the wider consideration of child protection and children’s rights. We need to use this as a milestone in Ireland to put in place a constitutional framework that will ensure that children’s rights are fully safeguarded under the law.”
Fine Gael Justice spokesman and member of the committee, Jim O’Keeffe, said the committee had considered the risk of vigilantism and said any legislation would have to be carefully worded to take that into account.
The committee will also suggest that a register of persons unsuitable to work with children be created and that the information which decides the make-up of the list include ‘soft’ as well as ‘hard’ information.
