Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 6, line 31, before "inviting" to insert the following:

"in the case of a child who is more than 5 years younger than the person concerned,".

I tried to read the legislation today. The last part of the Bill causes concern, namely, the definition of sexual exploitation. The proposed subsections 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d) are fine, but the definition in subsection 3(e) includes "inviting, inducing or coercing the child to participate in or observe any activity of a sexual or indecent nature". Inviting a child to participate in any activity of a sexual nature would become an offence under this provision.

The Labour Party welcomes the offence of travelling to meet a child for the purposes of under age sex. The House is unified in outlawing such, but we want to enshrine the provisions in a logical way. In the new subsection 3(e), the Tánaiste proposes that it be an offence to travel to meet a child for any sexual purpose, regardless of the age of the person, who may be a child himself or herself, meeting the child. For example, if an 18 year old girl made an arrangement to travel to meet a 16 year old boy to engage in intimacy — I am not referring to penetration — she would be committing an offence although the acts committed are not offences. It is an anomaly that travelling to do something that is not an offence could be an offence itself because of this provision's broad sweep. While I am sure such is not intended and that the people involved would not be prosecuted, the law as defined is open to that interpretation.

I sought a way around the difficulty because there is a requirement to avoid the exploitation of children. After the hour or two in which I had to consider the matter, I would suggest introducing an age gap. In the case of a child who is more than five years younger than the person concerned, the exploitative motivation could justify a criminal provision, but two young people arranging a rendezvous for a snog should not be criminalised, which is not our intention. Encompassing any activity of a sexual nature as a potential offence under this section strikes me as being a broad canvas.

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