Results 13,021-13,040 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not criminal.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Courageous as always.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: We had a fairly vigorous debate on civil unions recently and I do not believe Deputy Howlin would have made this point before that audience.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Ó Snodaigh will concede that if there is a consensus in the House that this should be an arrestable offence and that people should be detainable for questioning for soliciting children to engage in sexual activities, the ordinary consequence of that is it would be an indictable offence carrying a five-year penalty. It would be very strange indeed if asking somebody to do something...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: This should be put in context, and the context is that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is working on a major bill, the Criminal Justice (Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Offences) Bill, which will deal with the question of grooming in a comprehensive way. The UK Sexual Offences Act 2003 is extremely far-reaching legislation. I would not be immediately attracted to some...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is very difficult to interpret and one would not know what one was doing by enacting it. I feel if I produced section 14 in a Bill and sent it to the Attorney General's office the staff would, as they have done on a number of occasions, state it is so vague it is impermissible. If one wishes to criminalise something, one should state what one wants to criminalise.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is extremely opaque. To be fair, my officials examined the Fine Gael Bill and saw what was done. It tweaked the 1998 pornography Act and brought in a travelling having groomed offence. Those are two fairly safe changes. I am grateful to Deputy Howlin for raising this issue. It underlines that certain provisions introduced in UK legislation are extremely vague in their ambit. Section...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to Deputy Howlin for drawing our attention to section 14. However, if Deputy Jim O'Keeffe tabled section 14 for my acceptance today, I would not have gone down that road and he did not do so.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will repeat what I stated on Second Stage. We are working on a major piece of legislation relating to grooming. It is very difficult to create grooming offences and we must be extremely careful about the language used. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe's two proposals in his Private Members' Bill occurred to us as reasonable amendments which were safe, and he tip-toed around the unsafe aspects. That...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: As I understand the background to the British legislation, this provision mentioning "two occasions" was inserted in order to avoid any doubt but that there had to be an established pattern of behaviour before the offence was committed.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy may ask why that is so. Their approach was that if there was an established pattern of behaviour, they would be in a better position to convince juries the act was no accident, misunderstanding or impulsive action, but a careful grooming pattern. The person would have put in place on a number of occasions steps to bring about the encounter with the child.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: That is not so, of course, because if the person actually did——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——do something to the child that would be a different matter. I did not read Hansard on this matter. As I understand, the British draftsman wanted to make it very clear that in order for this offence to take place, an established pattern of behaviour, and not just a once-off text message or something similar, would have to be in place. Grooming, conceptually, is not just simply making...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: There is. It is soliciting or importuning.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: To importune a child within the State——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: No.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Not extra-territorially.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: There is the 1996 Act as well.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Bringing the child out of the jurisdiction for the purpose of sexually exploiting it is an offence.