David Norris (Independent)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 3, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following subsection:

"(10) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section—

(a) where a person who has attained the age of 15 years engages or attempts to engage in a sexual act with another person who has attained that age and the difference between the ages of those persons is not greater than 2 years, neither such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section;

(b) it shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that he or she honestly believed that, at the time of the alleged commission of the offence, each of the persons concerned had attained the age of 15 and that the difference between the ages of those persons was not greater than 2 years;

(c) where, in proceedings for an offence under this section, it falls to the court to consider whether the defendant honestly held the belief referred to in paragraph (b), the court shall have regard to the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for the defendant's so believing and all other relevant circumstances." .

This goes to the heart of the question of age. It is quite wrong to enact criminal penalties and terms of imprisonment for young consenting people. It flies in the face of the lived reality of this Republic's people. We are criminalising people who are not criminals.

I feel very strongly about the case of gay people in this age group. I have wide experience through national organisations and counselling services. When this legislation is reviewed, it is terribly important that the Government consult the gay community and its organisations. I have come across injustice in this area before. I dealt with a case where a man had a sexual relationship not with an underage person but with someone who was slightly mentally handicapped. He was sentenced to a lengthy period of imprisonment. The degree of mental handicap was marginal and the man was well capable of giving consent. It transpired subsequently that this young man had distributed his favours fairly widely around the city and had made a practice of attempting to blackmail people, which he had done successfully on other occasions. However, the person who was sent to jail simply refused to cough up. This is just an illustration which is not directly related to the Bill but analogous.

Criminalising two people between the ages of 15 and 17 and sending at least one to jail, or both in the case of gay persons, is a complete nonsense. One difficulty of this type of legislation is that it is being introduced in a period of heightened emotions. Unfortunately there is also an element of partisanship and political point-scoring. The age of consent is far too important a matter to be made the substance of political point-scoring or partisanship of any kind because it affects all citizens.

I must acknowledge that I filched this amendment from the other House because I believed it was good. I should have removed the word "honestly" and substituted "reasonably" but I failed to do so.