Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We had tabled an amendment in respect of consent on Committee Stage, which we withdrew. The Minister indicated that she would propose a definition. That was helped in large part by a decision of the Supreme Court on 11 November in the case of the DPP v.O'R which gave a broad overview of the issue in respect of consent. Obviously, people previously had a definition of consent when it came to cases being heard by our courts, but it was not written down anywhere. There is an advantage for the public to be able to see in a written document, in a law, what this country regards as defining the meaning of consent. We have tried to do that as best we can.

Obviously, in practical terms when it gets to a court case, although the issue of consent is an objective fact, it is an issue that is sometimes in dispute. Irrespective of the definition we put on it - I think the one put forward by the Minister is a good one - it will still be an issue of conflict in a trial and it is matter for a jury to determine whether consent was or was not given. That is a very difficult task.

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