David Norris (Independent)

I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he proposes to examine the laws relating to consent. He indicated that he was troubled, particularly about a case which came before the courts recently where a 17 year old boy and a 15 year old girl engaged in consensual sexual activity and the 17 year old was convicted of statutory rape. The judge expressed surprise that the consenting 15 year old girl was not also before the court. Now it transpires that their parents support the two young people in their relationship. They have now moved in together and have had a child.

That suggests to me that what I said a long time ago should be re-examined. An age of consent is always arbitrary and perhaps it might be possible to examine the question of a principle of consent in troubled cases such as these, to be decided by a judge. It is plainly a nonsense to ask why we did not send the 15 year old girl to prison for having sex with a man she eventually moved in with, and whose child she is having. There were similar cases in the United States. The Minister was right to isolate this point and I ask the Leader to ascertain when his proposals will be brought before the House.