David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The entire episode was utterly revolting and shocking. Jimmy Saville, in his autobiography, drew attention to the fact that he was molesting children. He was brazen in the extreme and it was shocking that he was not prosecuted at the time. Senators should consider the case of Cliff Richard who is a decent man as far as I know. While I have never met him, I have always liked him and his music and I approve of his Christian beliefs and so on. As part of Operation Yewtree, his home was invaded by police who did not tell him what they told television broadcasters and the tabloid press. The police have since had to withdraw the allegations. In this case, a person who was innocent of the allegations had his name trawled through the mud by the police, which is utterly shocking.

While I agree with the legitimate prosecution of these types of offences, which have correctly been described as heinous, a certain degree of sensitivity is required. It is profoundly shocking that in cases where persons were being pursued on suspicion or on the word of an unnamed third party whose anonymity was protected, police handed out information to the media before subsequently being forced to withdraw the allegations. While I do not expect the Minister of State to comment on that matter, I would appreciate a comment on the business involving the meaning of a "child".

Would it not be more logical to replace the word "child" in section 3 with the words "a person under the age of 18 years"? This phrase is perfectly clear and does not lead to the contradiction in the very next section in which a child is defined as a person under the age of 15 years. One could just as easily insert the phrase "a person under the age of 15 years". In section 5, one would then use the phrase "a person under the age of 17 years". That is the logical approach, rather than having this nonsense about children being of different ages all over the place.