Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

As only 15 minutes remain and most of the amendments will not be reached for the inexplicable reason that only 30 minutes has been given to Committee Stage of this serious Bill, the Minister should now indicate his attitude to all 28 amendments so we know where we are going when 2.30 p.m. arrives and the vote must be held.

I agree with the Green Party that the interests of the child should be a primary consideration. Child in a legal sense includes 15 and 16 year olds. There was an outcry 20 years ago from certain people for an abortion referendum which was subsequently carried. Then the X case happened, bringing clearly into focus a situation where a child was being imprisoned by the State on this island. The majority of the people voted to take the State away from a decision that must be made by her and her guardians.

The Government, however, is today criminalising consensual intimate relations between 16 year olds in a relationship that is warm and loving and making it punishable by five years in jail.

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