Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

As I understand the amendment, the Senator seeks to add that any person who is more than five years older than the victim would be a person in authority. That might have the effect of diluting the position of those who have real authority, such as parents or guardians and close relatives of the victim and those acting in loco parentis, such as teachers and others in supervisory positions in, for example, sports organisations. I am not sure that dilution would be a good thing. It is probably better to categorise those people, otherwise one is creating an offence.

The effect of what the Senator is seeking is that the person would be exposed to a greater sentence. In that case it would be better to increase the sentence in section 3(1) rather than seek to categorise everybody who is five years older than the victim. I have some sympathy with the view that the sentences, which are in line with those which operated heretofore, are on the low side, given that they are maximum sentences.