Joe O'Toole (Independent)

On my way to the Chamber I became aware this man had been released. While there has been much discussion in the recent past about the question of statutory rape, in most cases people are talking about consenting teenagers and consenting people over the age limit. The young girl in this case was 12 years of age, she was filled with drink and was raped. Under no circumstances would anybody show tolerance in this regard.

I second Senator Brian Hayes's amendment to the Order of Business that this matter be debated today. If it is more convenient for the Leader, I am sure Senator Brian Hayes would not mind if the matter was taken after No. 1 rather than before it. However, this matter should be debated today.

Quite understandably, there will be shock and horror throughout the country about this issue. It will be shared by both sides of the House as this is not a political issue. As Senator Brian Hayes quite rightly said, this is not an issue on which there is political division; it is simply a matter with which we need to deal.

There are a number of reasons we should debate this matter today. We should get a clear outline of how the Government intends to deal with this matter and since the Cabinet discussed it this morning and the Minister and his Department have been dealing with it for the past week, it should be available and we should be brought into the loop in terms of what will be done.

Until one hour ago I was of the view that we should take our time to ensure the legislation is accurate. In that regard, there are two issues with which we must deal, namely, the age of consent and closing the loophole in the current legislation. We need to address this in two stages, leaving the age of consent issue to another day because it is not one on which there will be wide consensus. To close the loophole we need to introduce an amendment that will allow a defence to be entered and to allow a judge to make a decision that an incident may be statutory rape. Something as simple as that could be dealt with in the next 48 hours. The broader legislation which is also required to deal with the age of consent issue will take longer.

We need to know what the Government is doing, what its plans are for closing the loophole to allow a defence to be entered and to allow a judge conclude that in some situations it may not be statutory rape. We also need to know what is the Government's plan in regard to the age of consent but that can wait a while.

I second the amendment to the Order of Business. It would not look well to the public if the House divided on this issue. We need to debate this issue, speak with a common voice and show leadership.