Opposition seeking inquiry into statutory rape fiasco

Opposition politicians are seeking an independent inquiry into the Government's handling of the Supreme Court ruling on statutory rape.

Fine Gael and the Labour Party are both expected to press the Taoiseach on the matter in the Dáil today.

The Government has come under intense criticism over its handling of the Supreme Court's ruling that Ireland's previous laws on statutory rape were unconstitutional.

Emergency legislation to plug the loophole was introduced by the Government last Friday, but the opposition is still demanding to know why the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition did not act sooner.

Speaking this morning, Labour TD Brendan Howlin said an independent inquiry was needed to determine what went wrong.

He also said his party would be pressing for a review of "flaws" in the emergency legislation passed last week.