Child protection campaign pleads for rights vote

CAMPAIGNERS for victims of sex crime have pleaded with the Government not to back down on the promise of a children’s rights referendum after hints by Children’s Minister Barry Andrews it is to be abandoned in favour of laws that would not necessitate a public vote.

Ellen O’Malley Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), said only an addition to the constitution to confirm the age of consent and recognise the concept of “strict liability” on the part of offenders could fully safeguard children against sex crimes by perpetrators who claim they didn’t know their victim’s age.

She praised the work of the all-party Oireachtas committee currently considering whether a constitutional amendment is needed or how it might be worded, but she said the talking had gone on for long enough.