Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It was. Advice was also taken from the Attorney General at various stages. As regards Deputy O'Dea's comments, I have already said that there is a lack of research and information on the issue. It would take a lot of consideration concerning the age issue. In many ways, there is disagreement over the age cut-off and whether it should be 16 or 14. A serious body of work needs to be done on that. Deputy O'Dea has had the experience of being in government, so he knows it would take a considerable amount of time to re-examine this matter. It would probably knock it back to the autumn if we were to examine the age issue as the Deputy has sought. I will have ongoing discussions and considerations concerning the different groups. However, in order to amend the legislation before us today, which will hopefully be before the House by the summer, we would have to take it away. There would have to be a serious amount of consultation and possibly even another committee meeting here, as Deputy Ryan has outlined, for further evidence.

During the pre-legislative scrutiny, the age issue was by no means clear given the various pieces of evidence. There were opposing views. Deputy Ó Snodaigh is quite right. I have started to receive lobbying on the Bill saying that we are going too far. Having looked at it, I think the lobbyists are wrong. I see that Deputies are also raising these issues, so I presume that on Report Stage we will debate, argue and discuss how far the Government has gone in changing the Bill.

Advice was taken from the Attorney General. There is a huge gap concerning data on different ages. We have taken the pre-legislative scrutiny into consideration and that is why the Tánaiste reduced it to 16, with the safeguards as outlined in the Bill, and with the support of the Cabinet, including the Attorney General. It would be quite a lengthy procedure if we were to do it now before Report Stage. I feel there would be an onus on me to consult broadly on the matter. It would delay the legislation if we were to re-examine this part of the Bill at length.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs will examine the whole area concerning children and under-18s. I will certainly look closely at whatever recommendations come from the Minister on this. I have always said that I will be proactive in that area.