By any standards
it was an extraordinary ten days in Irish political life, between the
striking down by the Supreme Court of sections of the 1935 Statutory
Rape Act and the rushing through of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences)
Bill 2006 on Friday, 2 June.
The crisis that developed revealed an arrogant and incompetent government
quite out of touch with the feelings of ordinary people. When the government
finally realised the seriousness of the situation, its main reaction
was to bring in a rushed and opportunistic Bill, which criminalised
the abuse of children, but also scandalously, criminalised young people
engaged in intimate, consensual relations.
In the short time available to me in the disgracefully rushed debate
on Friday, 2 June, I strenuously protested against taking provisions
that were put into law in 1935 and lifting them into the new legislation
in 2006. As it happens when the vote was finally called at 2.30pm on
Friday after only four hours of debate, including the committee stage,
I was not able to find a single deputy to support my call for a vote
of opposition.
I believe that political representatives, including those who know the
folly of what has been put into law, were reacting to an element of
hysteria that was being formented in some media outlets about the situation
that developed. They were also terrified that if they voted against
the Bill, they would be accused of being soft on child abusers by unprincipled
government representatives.
However, unfortunately the rights of the youth of this State were trampled
over in this situation. Not only could they face years' imprisonment
for what is regarded as normal between many young people, but teenage
boys could find themselves put on the register of sex offenders with
all the serious consequences that this entails.
The farcical situation that developed with this legislation was shown
at committee stage, when the Minister for Justice admitted that he had
included Section 5 of the Bill in response to points I had made the
day before to the T‡naiste on the Order of Business when I pointed
out that the legislation which we hadn't yet seen was likely to make
criminals of young teenage mothers. As a result, Section 5 provided
that girls under 17 would not be criminalised for sexual intercourse,
but boys would. When I said that, of course, I absolutely agreed that
teenage mothers should not be criminalised, but asked the logic in criminalising
teenage fathers, there was no reply.
Section 3.9 in the Act provided that no prosecutions would be taken
against a person under the age of 17, except by, or with the consent
of, the Director of Public Prosecutions. This represents a desperate
attempt by the government to avoid the appalling situation which could
arise, when for example; 16 -year- olds would face criminalisation for
consensual intimate relations that are normal for very many people at
that age.
Obviously, the State fears that you could have similar situation to
that which developed with the X case in 1992. This case occurred not
very long after a majority had voted to put an absolute prohibition
on the right to terminate a pregnancy into the Constitution. When the
State tried to prevent a young 14 year old girl from availing of such
a termination in Britain following a rape, there was an outcry right
around the country to the effect that the girl and her guardians should
be allowed to make a free decision. This outcry included many who had
voted in favour of the constitutional prohibition.
Similarly, we can now have a situation where young people finish up
getting prosecuted as a result of this legislation, giving rise to serious
public anger.
Obviously, legislating in regard to sexual matters is fraught with difficulties.
No decent person in society will want a situation where predatory adults
will abuse and prey on children. At the same time, the feelings and
views of teenagers under the age of 17 have to be respected and provided
for. The sections of the new legislation which criminalise youth should
be struck down instantly. There should now be an immediate and wide-ranging
debate in society on all these issues.
See also:
Editorial:
End the criminalisation of young people
Socialist
Youth members speak out
