Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The country is holding its breath to see what happens next, some evidence of which will be provided today in the courts. All but the Government are holding their breath. It is different for the Government. As far as the Government is concerned, it is just one of those matters which we should get over. As far as it is concerned, these things happen and it is nobody's fault.

The Minister then decides to up the cynical ante. He raises the red herring of the interrogation of children by his colleagues down in the Four Courts. However, the answer, namely, video evidence, is in his hands. He knows that a report on video evidence is probably covered in mildew on the shelves in his Department. His job is to solve problems, not invent them, and if he is not up to this job, he knows what he should do.

I welcome this debate and the Bill before the House. Last Wednesday in the House, I stated:

Yesterday's Supreme Court decision has serious consequences for the protection of young girls. Today, it is not illegal for a man to have consensual sex with a girl under 15 years of age. This is a grave situation and requires action by the House. As a result of the ruling that section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935 is unconstitutional, it is possible that people in prison for having sex with girls under 15 may be able to have their convictions struck down. Protection of our young people must be a priority for legislators.

The Government's reaction was quite incredible and, in retrospect, risible. The Minister wormed his way around the problem in the House and trashed it outside. The Taoiseach was quite categorical about it and stated that nobody would walk free from prison as a result of the Supreme Court decision. How wrong he was. Not to be outdone, the Minister was ad idem with the Taoiseach. His attitude was that there was no crisis, no gaping hole in the law and no need to rush legislation. He believed the Government could carry on regardless and it did, but Fine Gael did not.

Fine Gael put children's safety before political pride. On that same day, we drafted a Bill to close the gap created by the Supreme Court decision. Our Bill was broadly along the lines of the report by the Law Reform Commission. The next day, the Tánaiste issued numerous assurances in House. Fine Gael acted in good faith in respect of these assurances. We put the country's interest before the party's interest and delayed publishing the Bill so the Government could bring forward urgent legislation. I regret the Government's damning breach of trust in this regard.

Within minutes, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform went on the national airwaves, bantering about the sexual predilections of, in his own words, "randy 23 year olds". He coolly asserted that there was no black hole and that urgent legislation was not required. Fresh from that success, he was ready for more publicity by the weekend. He engineered yet another leak to a journalist. He supplied the journalist in question with a copy of our Bill and misled that individual about its contents. Our Bill was never published.

At the same time, for good measure, he airily floated his personal preferences, which were to lower the age of consent for girls and to legalise sex between young teenagers. It is vital that this House and the country have a robust debate on the age of consent but it is reprehensible for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to breach the protocols of the House on draft legislation simply so that he can hit the headlines and divert attention from the problem.

The Minister should heed the saying "be careful what you wish for" since he has since received it with a vengeance. When the Tánaiste preached in this House about the speck in our eye and the need to keep party politics out of the debate, she should have looked, not at the log, but the entire rainforest stuck firmly in the eye of the Progressive Democrats.

The terms of the Bill are broadly in line with the terms of the draft Fine Gael Bill, from which perspective I welcome them. I especially welcome the provisions restoring the protection of young people from sexual predators. I also welcome the tougher provisions in respect of those in authority, which was a central feature of our draft Bill.

Today's Bill effectively raises the age of consent for boys to 17 years. The Minister's proposal to reduce the age of consent would effectively legalise sex between young teenagers who, in my view, are children. The mark of a civilised society is how we cherish our children and their childhoods. Not for one minute are we cherishing our children or the shrinking space of their childhoods by legalising sex between young teenagers.

See this speech in context