Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

This section deals with reckless endangerment. Under this section it becomes a more serious offence for someone in authority over a child to intentionally or recklessly cause or permit the child to be placed in a situation which would create a substantial risk. This offence carries the maximum penalty of a fine, or ten years imprisonment or both. On the face of it, I fully support this provision but one scenario worries me. This scenario has arisen in the past in very serious cases of child sexual abuse and I do not doubt that it arises as we speak and will arise in the future. In this scenario, the father is abusing some of his daughters with the knowledge of the mother, who is also in authority. For whatever reason, such as the belief that exposure would bring shame on the family, the mother feels she is not in a position to do anything about the abuse. I am concerned that under this provision, the family, which could contain younger children, could be deprived of both parents because their father would be rightly imprisoned for the abuse and their mother, an otherwise exemplary person, would be imprisoned because she was a person in authority who failed to act. Has any consideration been given to this scenario because it has arisen in the past and will undoubtedly arise in the future? Most cases of child sexual abuse occur within the family and extended family. It is an area that worries me.