Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am unhappy with the proposal that a person who is five years older in calendar months would be deemed to be a person in authority. It is not one I find attractive. I do not believe there are not genuine consensual situations in which this may not render a significant injustice. The Deputy will be aware that I had in mind two or three years as a possible age difference provision.

I am aware that the Law Reform Commission in 1990 proposed a five-year age gap, but I am uncomfortable with it and the Government is reluctant to go down that road. The effect of this amendment would be to expose someone who is five years older than the other individual to massively increased penalties compared with those for someone who is four years and nine months older. I am not attracted to the idea that someone who is 58 months older should be in a radically different position from that of someone who is 60 months older.

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