Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The issue is not whether the Opposition is as concerned to urgently address this issue as the Government. That is not in doubt. The Taoiseach read out a long, prepared script about young girls being subjected to cross-examination. That is the very stipulation that is put into the legislation his Government enacted and he is reading back to us the criticisms we made of it at the time. We accept that territory, as is already well established, so there is no point trying to allocate responsibility for what has transpired to this side of the House.

Let us leave out the section 2 charges for the moment because, as the Taoiseach indicated, there may be a risk of saying something which might be damaging to the prospects of somebody being brought to justice, although the possibility of section 2 being declared constitutionally infirm is also very high, as the Taoiseach is aware. To return to the category consisting of 16 cases to which the Taoiseach referred, is the Taoiseach alerting the House and the country to the prospect of all or some of the 16 individuals in question walking free? Is that the distinction he is drawing? He seems to be seeking to equate unlawful carnal knowledge with sexual assault. These are two different offences. Are alternative charges being pressed? In cases where charges were originally brought under section 1 of the 1935 Act do the indictments also contain other charges or can other charges be validly pressed in each or all of the cases in question? I am still unclear on this matter from the answer the Taoiseach provided.

See this speech in context