Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I am happy to support the Government's attempt to close the gap in the law relating to the soliciting and importuning of children for sexual purposes. Our colleagues in the Labour Party did a service to the House and the country last week when they pointed out a loophole that inadvertently resulted from emergency legislation introduced last year. It is important that we close the gap as soon as we can.

I am pleased that the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has decided to adopt Fine Gael's proposals to outlaw Internet grooming. I accept the minor drafting changes he has suggested. While I am keen to see these measures enacted into law, we should think twice about the notion of dealing with such important issues by means of emergency legislation. I would not like it to become a regular practice. If these important issues are not dealt with in a studied and considered manner, it is possible — if not probable or inevitable — that there will be a recurrence of the unfortunate consequences of the 2006 emergency legislation. Emergency legislation is not the best way to deal with important issues such as child protection.

Fine Gael has expressed its support for the introduction of child protection measures. It has made it clear, at the all-party committee and elsewhere, that it supports the introduction of a zone of absolute protection, the need for which has been highlighted by its party leader, Deputy Kenny. It has resisted the Government's attempts to lower the age of consent. The referendum on child protection issues sought by Fine Gael seems to have been lost among the broader child welfare issues which have arisen. It seems almost certain that the referendum on child protection cannot take place during the term of the current Government.

It is important to approach all these issues in a measured fashion. With all due respect to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I am not sure his approach to these issues could be considered measured. When last year's problem arose, he claimed there was no black hole in the law on statutory rape. While he was uttering such platitudes on national radio, the High Court was getting ready to let child rapists walk free under the huge gap in the law that had opened in the absence of preparation or contingency plans on the part of the Government. While the Government floundered, the Opposition spoke of the need to close the black hole I have mentioned. Rather than concentrating on how best to do that, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, continued in denial until the last minute, when he decided that a change had to be made.

The most recent Fine Gael Bill on child protection, which contains measures for dealing with Internet grooming, has had a happier fate than my previous Bill on the same issue. The Government has accepted the legislation on this occasion, whereas the last time I presented a Bill on child protection, it was leaked to the newspapers. We should all work in a measured way to achieve the best outcome in the area of child protection. Nobody should claim to have a monopoly of care in this regard. All of us should be prepared to be judged on our records. A harsh judgment may be delivered on the Government and particularly the Minister, Deputy McDowell, based on their record.

Last week, Deputy Rabbitte highlighted the removal of certain provisions relating to the soliciting or importuning of children for sexual purposes. While the Minister can argue that many people looked at the Bill in question, he is responsible for ensuring that legislation is constitutionally and legally sound. He can avail of his experience in this area, the support of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the advice of the many staff in the Office of the Attorney General. We are about to close this gap, which was allowed to develop even though such assistance was available.

When the Minister spoke about this gap, he made a highly insensitive reference to the soliciting or importuning of a child for sexual purpose as "a minor offence". I presume he was speaking in legal terms about the fact that the offence in question was a summary offence in the District Court. He should think of the children who have been subject to approaches from predatory adults and the parents whose children have been in such situations. Any suggestion that such a predatory approach could be referred to as "a minor offence" would be highly insensitive. I am glad we are taking the opportunity in this legislation to ensure that the offences which are being reinstated can be dealt with on indictment, with serious consequences in terms of the length of imprisonment to be served.

I would like to speak about the Internet grooming element of the Bill. I am quite familiar with this section of the Bill because I wrote it approximately three years ago. Insufficient attention has been paid to the problem of Internet grooming. The use of the Internet, which has infiltrated youth culture in particular, has not been dealt with in legislation. The obvious evidence of serious Internet grooming has been ignored. It is quite clear that Internet grooming has not been a criminal offence. I have always believed that predatory adults were using the Internet for the purpose of luring children into a false sense of security with their only objective being to arrange meetings with children for the purpose of sexual exploitation. While it is not known how widespread this practice is, the article in last Sunday's The Sunday Tribune brought the issue home. The author of the article, Mick McCaffrey, had been released after being arrested and was able to devote his talents to an investigative story. The information he gleaned and the responses to the approaches he made are quite appalling to anybody and opened an appalling vista of the kind of activity that is going on in our society. It brings home to us the absolute need to make this a serious criminal offence in order to try and stop these people engaging in such heinous activity.

The Minister referred to a precedent in UK legislation and I agree that one should not need to reinvent the wheel. I plead guilty to looking at the legislation and policies in other countries relating to all aspects of the criminal justice system. We have much to learn about policies on criminal justice and on legislation from tried and tested methods in other countries. The Fine Gael Bill drew largely on the UK legislation. Such legislation works in the United Kingdom and there is no reason such legislation should not work here. I do not suggest it is the complete answer as there are other aspects of Internet grooming which need to be dealt with but this is one clear and sure way of bringing to justice those who are involved in such activity.

I am pleased the Minister has taken the Fine Gael Bill on board. I had been told to expect a copy of the emergency legislation from the Minister yesterday and I made some inquiries. I did not receive any telephone calls and I did not see the draft legislation until this morning. The Minister might have considered sending a text to say he was working on it and that he was adopting our proposals. However, it is better late than never and the legislation is now before the House. We should deal with it in as sensible a way as possible.

When I saw that the Minister had taken the Fine Gael proposal on board and adopted it virtually line for line and word for word, I decided to withdraw the Private Member's Bill as I did not see any point in duplication. I also was aware that the Minister could not move his Bill tonight while my Bill was before the House. There is a precedent in this House that there cannot be a duplication of legislation. I discovered that the Minister would have required a special motion to move his Bill tonight because it would have been duplicitous of the Fine Gael Bill. This was another reason for clearing the Fine Gael Bill off the stocks since it was to be incorporated into the Government Bill and this would ensure that the provisions would be passed. I am well aware that legislation from the Opposition benches generally has very little chance of being passed and I was particularly keen to ensure that with regard to such an important area of child protection there was law on this matter.

It is important for the Government to clarify its position with regard to the clear decision on the referendum made by the all-party committee on child protection. The Fine Gael leader, Deputy Kenny, has made it clear that we want to see the legislation on child protection and the necessary referendum to underpin that legislation in place as soon as possible. I now have a real concern that because the welfare issues as enunciated by the Taoiseach were thrown into the mix the referendum on child protection will not be held in the near future. The Government appears to have made up its mind that it would not run the referendum on child protection on its own. For that reason, those of us in Opposition are forced to raise questions on the broader issues. The issues relating to child protection had been carefully examined but perhaps the safeguards to be put in place on the issue of soft information had not been sufficiently examined. In my letter to the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, I stated the aspect that needed to be clarified was how this was to be dealt with in legislation.

The referendum was ready to run but it now seems that it will founder because of the add-on aspects regarding child welfare. We will end up with no referendum and no legislation on that issue in the short term, during the term of this Government. I am not happy with this outcome. I want to get to the heart of the issue to ensure the child protection measures, in so far as we can, are on the Statute Book and are constitutionally sound. This proposed legislation is a related matter in its aspect of child protection.

I am happy to support these measures. I am not happy that they are all being passed in one sitting. Neither the Minister nor the Government has given any clear explanation why there is not a pause in order to ensure the legislation is absolutely right. I had not seen the measures relating to importuning and soliciting until this morning. I had the opportunity to consider the other issues fully three years ago. I wish to put down a marker. I support the reinstatement and the extension of the offences relating to importuning and soliciting. However, Committee Stage of the Bill could be taken tomorrow or Thursday and people would have an opportunity of careful consideration. It is vitally important that whatever legislation is put in place now will stand up to the rigours of questioning before the courts. The Minister knows better than most and he has a lot more experience than I have of the Central Criminal Court. He knows the abilities of the lawyers who will test not just the Bill and its sections but every word and phrase in it.

I refer to an article by Fergus Finlay on this issue in today's Irish Examiner. He quoted the Minister on the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 — the emergency legislation of last year — as stating: "When the dust settles and the frenzy is over it will be seen that my colleagues in Government, myself and the Attorney General, have acted competently, honestly, truthfully and with the best interests of the children in mind." Yet, here we are back again with further emergency legislation. I wonder whether the Minister still feels that particular sentence stands up.

Having said all that, I am in favour of the Bill. Let us get on and deal with it as effectively as we can.

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