Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Another question has been tabled on the McElwee case and I am aware of the circumstances of it. One of the reasons we propose to change the legislation is to tighten up the situation, not necessarily flowing from this particular case. For this new legislation, we have taken on board the views of various bodies, including the Ombudsman for Children, the Irish Human Rights Commission and what flowed from the report of the Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection on the 2007 Council for Europe convention against sexual exploitation and the sexual abuse of children. It was part of an overall Bill but because we wanted to fast track dealing with human trafficking, we brought it forward as a separate Bill, which, as the Deputy knows, will come into law on 7 June.

A Bill on sexual offences will be brought forward and will take care of the situation provided a similar offence exists in this jurisdiction to that committed by the person. In all circumstances where a similarity exists between the offence committed in the foreign jurisdiction and this jurisdiction, it would be possible to ground a prosecution here.

Will the Deputy table a specific question on whether the meeting has taken place? I expect a meeting has taken place and meetings are taking place on a constant basis.

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