Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

This Bill would seek to reinstate the status quo while the broader debate the Minister has opened about the age of consent and the substantive issue could continue but in the interim, the loophole needs to be closed off. This Bill provides for that situation. It allows for the defence of honest mistake but other than that, it reinforces the one section that is now gone and three further sections that are at risk. We can produce such a Bill and I am assured by expert opinion outside the Labour Party that there is no constitutional infirmity in the Bill. The Minister may sneer but how can he explain to our people in this country the lethargy and complacency with which he has confronted this issue since it first became known that this case was stated before the Supreme Court? To imply that there is no contact of any kind with the Supreme Court is quite proper.

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