Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 34:

In page 30, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:

“Amendment of Schedule to Principal Act 28.The Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph 7:

“7A. An offence under section 1 of the Act of 1935 (defilement of girl under 15 years of age).

8. An offence under section 2 of the Act of 1935 (defilement of girl between 15 and 17 years of age).”.”.

This proposed amendment seeks to reinsert two offences into the Schedule that were previously removed in error. I thank Deputy McNamara for drawing my attention to this during the Second Stage debate. I propose inserting an offence under section 1 of the Act of 1935 - defilement of a girl under 15 years of age - and an offence under section 2 of the Act of 1935 - defilement of a girl between 15 and 17 years of age - into the Schedule of the 2001 Act. This amendment is on foot of legal advice received by the Department arising from the identification of a lacuna in the Sex Offenders Act in which both of these offences had been removed from the Schedule through the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006. Neither offence now appears in the Schedule to the 2001 Act and this amendment will restore both to the Schedule.