Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Later today the House will debate emergency legislation to prevent predators using the Internet to meet children for sexual relations and to reinstate the offence of soliciting a child for sex. It is clear that the Government's frantic rush to bring in this legislation has only come about because of initiatives taken on this side of the House. Last week the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Rabbitte, exposed a deficit in the legislation consequent on the legislation introduced last year arising from the Supreme Court decision in the CC case. The proposals in the Bill to be debated by the House this evening are to do with grooming and are lifted word for word from the Bill introduced here three years ago by Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on behalf of the Fine Gael Party.

Given that the Government has been aware of these difficulties for some time, if the Labour Party last week had not raised the issue of the deficit in the legislation and if Deputy O'Keeffe did not move his Bill this week, how much longer would it have tolerated Irish children being unprotected from evil people who use the Internet to groom them for sexual exploitation? If the issue of the deficit in the legislation had not been raised last weekend, how much longer would Irish children have remained unprotected from the crime of solicitation for sex?

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