McDowell announces details of emergency rape legislation
Emergency legislation to be rushed through the Oireachtas tomorrow offers the best protection for the nation’s children, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell insisted tonight.
The 15-page Criminal Law Sexual Offences Bill 2006 will restore the offence of statutory rape to the statute books and maintain the age of consent for teenagers at 17 years.
It will also update provisions contained in the 1935 legislation declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court 10 days ago, and offer stiffer penalties in some situations.
Briefing the media on the Bill, Mr McDowell said tonight: “This the framework, in the light of the Supreme Court decision, that provides the best protection for our children.
“I’m confident that, when the dust settles, it will be shown that I acted with good authority, competence, honesty and truthfulness.”
Minister for Children Brian Lenihan added: “We’ve received the best legal advice, we applied all our collective minds to it at the Cabinet table, and the outcome is the best solution to the unprecedented situation we were presented with.”
A controversial section in the Bill will not make it an offence for a girl under 17 to engage in sexual intercourse because Mr McDowell explained he didn’t want to stigmatise teenage mothers as criminals or rape victims.
This provision was criticised by the Labour Party which said it discriminated against boys and was possibly unconstitutional.
The Bill also provides stiffer penalties for people in authority like relatives, teachers or priests.
The minister, who earlier faced calls for his resignation by seven independent TDs, said he believed the speedily-drafted legislation would be robust to legal challenges.
“I’m confident it will stand. I’ve consulted closely with the Attorney General on everything. I’ve done my level best,” he added.
Mr McDowell also said that an unexplored side-effect of the May 23 Supreme Court decision is that defence lawyers now will be able to vigorously cross-examine an alleged rape victim in the witness box to reinforce the accused’s case.
The five-judge court said the 71-year-old Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act did not allow for a man accused of statutory rape to claim that he made an honest mistake about the victim’s age.
This specific defence will now be clearly enshrined in the new Bill.
Mr McDowell reiterated that the Government could not have done anything to stop the release of convicted child rapists once the legal challenge to the legislation began in 2002.
Mr McDowell said he began preparing the emergency Bill the day after the Supreme Court decision on May 23 and admitted the drafting process had to be accelerated due to the circumstances.
“An immense amount of drafting went into what we have tonight. The complexities of the issues involved explained to me why no Government touched it since the Law Reform Commission recommendations in 1990.”
The Bill goes before the Dáil in the morning and will then be debated in the Seanad.
The minister said he will accept amendments from Opposition TDs if they represent genuine improvements.
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