Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Does that include injury time, Sir?

On that basis the Government is just setting up the law, on which the public depends for certainty, for further crisis and challenge. That is above and beyond the bizarre and absurd position that girls will be criminally liable for foreplay but not for sex. To put it bluntly, the incoherence behind the current proposals is demonstrated by pointing to three conflicting propositions, each of which the Government is seeking to advance in this Bill. I will give an example. I apologise for being so explicit, but it is necessary. If two 16-year olds engage in sexual intercourse, the boy is guilty of a serious offence while the girl is guilty of nothing. If the girl performs oral sex on the boy, they are both guilty of a serious offence. If the boy performs oral sex on the girl, then neither of them is guilty of any offence.

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