Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am immensely disappointed by what the Tánaiste has just said. She seemed to assert that it would be unreasonable for Government to have anticipated the striking down of this particular section. How in heaven's name can she say that? Twice in May 2005, as I said in the House last week, legislation was rushed through in one day. That legislation was ready to go. To say that, on something as important as the protection of our children, no one was riding shotgun and that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform — the nightwatchman — fell asleep on the job is beyond belief.

The public are staggered by the incompetence and lack of care displayed by the Government in this case. The Tánaiste is not well briefed. She was drafted in at the last minute last night to replace the Minister for Finance but it is untrue to say that no one offered the defence of honest mistake, something the Taoiseach repeated yesterday morning when he said, "Responses to the invitation for views disclosed no appetite for change among those who expressed views on the paper", referring to the discussion paper published in 1998 by the previous Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Of course they did. I have the Labour Party submission with a summary of proposals on the first page. It states that we also accept the Law Reform Commission proposal that there should be a defence of reasonable mistake in relation to unlawful carnal knowledge. We made that submission in December 1998 but the discussion paper never went anywhere. It ran into the sand.

The Tánaiste is wrong. I accept she is not misleading the House, she was just badly briefed. There is no point flapping here about partisan politics. She should have a word with the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism beside her. If a letter went missing in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, he had the House in uproar. In this case we are talking not about a letter going missing but about our young people being at risk and a gaping hole arising in the law. The Government, however, displays a laid-back attitude and claims that it did not know about it.

The Minster for Justice, Equality and Law Reform says this is the responsibility of the DPP. That is grossly unfair. The DPP does not have a weekly slot on "Today with Pat Kenny" to defend himself. How can the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform claim that he and his Department had no knowledge, despite admitting there are channels of communication on such major issues?

Those Fianna Fáil backbenchers who have broken ranks on this issue and those in the divided Cabinet are right. They should support the Labour Party Bill we published yesterday which permits the reinstatement of the status quo plus the defence of honest mistake. It is the interim legislation that is needed to protect us. While we are having the interesting debate about the age of consent and gender neutrality, which is complex and will take time, we need interim legislation to protect our children. Our Bill achieves that.

The Government misjudged this on a gargantuan scale. There is no doubt about that. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform said to Pat Kenny:

Then we have to ask ourselves do we want to protect 15 year olds from randy 23 year olds, if I can use that phrase. It is not an easy one to legislate for on the back of a beer mat.

I agree, it is not an easy one to legislate for on the back of a beer mat and, for that reason, we should close the loophole in interim emergency legislation. I want the Tánaiste to say to the House that the Bill will not be published on Tuesday of next week and enacted on Wednesday. The Opposition is entitled to be consulted about this. The 1935 Act was taken in secrecy in this House.

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