David Norris (Independent)

On foot of personal experience, I am in favour of financial penalties. As an innocent bystander in Parnell Street talking to a neighbour, I was punched in the face by a young person — a queer basher from the working class. The pleasant consequence of that was that I received the sum of €1,000, which has been mentioned by Senator Cummins.

I wish to refer briefly to what Senator Higgins said about the discretion of the Director of Public Prosecutions. That is an interesting idea but they should go in the direction of a principle of consent rather than an age of consent because we are referring this in any event, but not to a court. As a result, the reasons will never be made public. The public will be concerned to know why, in certain cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions did not proceed. At present, there is no requirement whatever on the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to give any reason and it never does. We would, however, discover that reason in court. When the Government re-examines this matter, I hope it will at least consider the question of a principle of consent in respect of these difficult matters.

In a case such as that which has been satisfactorily resolved today, there could not be the slightest question of doubt. Nobody, no matter how liberal, would ever, in my opinion, suggest that a 12 year old girl who was deliberately made drunk and who was then interfered with while asleep or in the process of being sick gave consent. One could not possibly imagine that there was consent in that case. There is no doubt in my mind — I do not think there could be any doubt in anybody's mind — about that but there are cases that should be referred to court to investigate the entire matter of consent. I do not believe that the Director of Public Prosecutions is totally satisfactory precisely because he — or, in the future, possibly she — is not required to explain the reasons.