Cabinet to discuss new legislation on statutory rape
30/05/2006 - 07:43:29Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is due to present new legislation on statutory rape to the Cabinet today following last week's Supreme Court ruling.
The court ruled that Ireland's current law on statutory rape was unconstitutional because it failed to allow the accused to argue that he honestly believed the girl was over 15.
Mr McDowell's proposed new legislation is expected to set the age of consent for both boys and girls at 16.
At present, the age for girls is 17, while it is just 15 for boys.
The new law is also expected to make it an offence for women to have sex with underage boys as existing statutory rape legislation only applies to men.
