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

I made my pitch. The Tánaiste takes a different philosophical approach from mine. Although we may not be 100 miles apart in our objective, I believe that there is a better way of achieving it. We will have to agree to differ on that. I agree with him on the issue of rape and the decision of the Supreme Court. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable and anybody convicted of rape should automatically have a custodial sentence imposed. That would be a starting point in dealing with rape. However, I feel the counsel for the prosecution should have a duty on sentence to point that out to the judge. We must agree to differ on this point.

We have had a good debate on these issues and there are other amendments to consider. Perhaps we can discuss this further on Report Stage. I will not press the amendments.

See this speech in context