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Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: I have heard arguments in the House this morning to the effect that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should resign, that he should have acted before the Supreme Court decision and that the Attorney General should have known.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: Nobody has had the courage to say the honest to God truth, which is that it did not really matter in the final analysis if they knew it since 1990 because the Supreme Court had not made that decision. What counted was the Supreme Court decision that was made recently and what counted was the corrective action that was taken subsequently.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: I do not believe that the paucity of the intellectual argument or the intellectual process——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——has been illustrated in a more stark fashion——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——than the sight last night——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——of six or seven Independent Deputies holed up in some Dublin hotel——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——seeking to gain their tuppence ha'penny worth of publicity about a grave situation and a grave matter facing this House.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: If the truth be told, these political gadflies would not get across the interpretation section of the legislation itself, let alone understand what section 1(1) or section 1(2) meant.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: Is anybody seriously suggesting to this House this afternoon that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, one of the leading criminal lawyers in the country——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——would understand the law of this country less well than the political gadflies who were on television last night?

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: Is it the case that anybody could credibly make the argument to this House or any place else——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——that there is even one single member of the Opposition Front Bench in any party who could explain to him or tell him what the law was?

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: I suggest that the people are not going to be fooled by that argument——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——whatever about any other argument that the Opposition is going to bring forward.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: It was clear from Deputy Howlin's speech this morning not only that he did not understand the 1935 Act, but also that he did not understand the legislation introduced by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the House today.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: That is the truth, stark and all as it might seem.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: It is the same Deputy Howlin who has been wandering around the country over a long period of time trying to pretend, for example, that he established the Morris tribunal.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: He no more set up the Morris tribunal than——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: ——a fox is appropriate in a henhouse. I want to make this much abundantly clear.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

John O'Donoghue: There is a good reason for section 5. It is the case that if the legislation were entirely gender neutral then a young girl of 16 and a half years having sex with a boy of 18 years and becoming pregnant would be criminalised under the law. The Government did not want to do that. We have spent decades coming out from that hidden corner of Ireland. We have spent decades trying to ensure...

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