Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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This has nothing to do with the age of consent. It simply has to do with whether someone is charged as a child or an adult. In Ireland, a child is defined as a person under 18 years of age. It is simply to make sure we have that clear definition. It is not in any way aligned to consent. I do not think consent or the age of consent should come into any of this where we are speaking about a sexual offence. They are two separate issues. If we start treating children differently for different crimes where do we stop? It is simply a very clear clarification. If people are under 18 they are a child and the rules have to apply the same as they do for any other offence. If they are over 18 they are treated as an adult. If we start blurring the lines, is someone aged 16 much different to someone aged 17 and vice versa? This is where the five years comes in. It applies to a child under the age of 18. I appreciate that we can have very mature 17-year-olds and very immature 22-year-olds. We have to have a legal definition and the line is drawn at 18. It is not possible for us to suddenly deviate from this.